Sea, Sun and Sickness
by Flowerstar
Summary: After doing an errand, Spyro was given a part-time job as a lifeguard at Dragon Shores but unfortunately when he arrived home, he came down with a cold. The rest of the summary is in the authoress' notes in the first chapter. Formerly a collaboration with Topaz16, now a collaboration with SoraLover1994. Ch. 6 is finally up!
1. Bothersome Babysitting&Parttime Vacancy

The original _Spyro the Dragon _series, Spyro, Elora, Sparx, Hunter, Bianca, Moneybags, Zoe, baby dragons (Brian, Roxy and Hank from _Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon_), older dragons including Gildas, Tomas and the adult-sized purple dragon (from _Spyro the Dragon_ and _Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon_), Marco the balloonist, Dragon Realms, Artisans Homeworld and other minor characters belongs to Insomniac Games or whoever owns the franchise now. Macy is an OC and rightfully belongs to Topaz16.

Hi! It's Flowerstar! I'm sure you know me as the authoress of my Spyro/American Dragon crossover, "_Spyro & Jake Long: Ripto's Revenge_" and my one-sided Spyro x Elora song fanfiction, "_Rolling Back The Rivers In Time_" but I'm more known outside this category as the one who written my debut fanfiction, "_A Mario Birthday Party_", five years ago from now. We know everyone get sick sometimes, even heroes and heroines but since no one has done a story about Spyro coming down with a cold or the flu, my collab partner and I decided to come up with something like this. Since we're fans of Spyro x Elora, there will be plenty of romance between them. Just keep in mind that this fanfic takes place after _Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon_.

This is one of the collaborations I'm doing with one of my friends; the other collaboration is a remake of "_Mario and Luigi: Eternal Slumber_" with ChrisMSMB (previously with Clario back in 2005, five years ago from now. Let's just say ChrisMSMB and I are bringing this back from the 'dead') from the Mario category and one of my pals. My collab partner, Topaz16, is doing this story with me so we will both get reviews and feedback. Y'know, I haven't done a collaboration in years since… since the cancelled story with my little sis, SnowCrystal, I think.

The ideas behind the collaboration came from a lot of inspiration and many things like the official music video of "_I'll Be Ready_" by Sunblock, from my mind whenever I'm lying awake in bed or taking a shower, the private messages between Topaz16 and I, certain oneshots from the _How To Train Your Dragon _category and some episodes of a few particular cartoons such as the episode "_Geshund Fight_" from the first season of _The Powerpuff Girls_. Since my partner is doing the fanfiction with me, her OC known, as Macy will appear at some point as the story unfolds. We'll be taking in turns doing the chapters and I'm sure her ideas may be included too. Since I'll be working on this with her, Spyro and the characters will be referred by their own names instead of describing them like I tend to do nowadays when it comes to my solo stories. So, without further ado, here's the first chapter of "_Sea, Sun and Sickness_".

Summary: After doing an errand, Spyro was given a part-time job as a lifeguard at Dragon Shores but unfortunately when he arrived home at night, he came down with a cold. While he's sick, he tries to balance between lifeguard duty and his daily job as a hero. Luckily, Elora realises he has fallen ill and decides to make him feel better.

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Sea, Sun and Sickness

**Chapter 1: Bothersome Babysitting and Part-time Vacancy **

All was well in the Dragon Realms, especially in the Artisans Homeworld, and peace was once again restored thanks to the brave efforts of everyone's favourite dragon, Spyro, along with his dragonfly sidekick, Sparx, and their friends from Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds. Even that world and its inhabitants enjoyed their fair share of peace and prosperity after the Sorceress was defeated. When the time comes once again and evil arises, Spyro will be needed to save the day.

Now, that the baby dragons were returned to their proper home, he was in the middle of an errand, babysitting and spending time with them whilst his friends and his dragon brethren were going about their everyday lives, hobbies and tasks in different areas of the Dragon Realms or the Artisans Homeworld.

Sparx is spending his quality time with Zoe, Hunter is in the midst of target practising, Bianca is experimenting with a variety of spells and harnessing the magic within herself and Moneybags is occupied with attempting to fleece Marco the balloonist out of his gems. Conversely, the Artisan dragons were busy with writing and composing songs, creating sculptures and wondrous, artistic paintings. They even enjoy getting together for group singing and art viewing.

Apparently, three baby dragons known as Roxy, Brian and Hank have playfully pinned their purple babysitter to the grass near the waterfall and the portal to Sunny Flight. He felt uncomfortable, being under the weight of the trio and struggling to escape from them but to no avail. In this state, he laid on his back even as he kicked his four legs back and forth repetitively.

"Er… guys? Do you… mind… getting… off of… me? You're kinda… crushing… me." He grunted, gasping between breaths and moving violently, in order to remove them off of his underbelly.

Unfortunately to him, they took no notice and completely ignored him, childlike giggling were released out their mouths, followed by a series of coughs. The same type of coughs whenever they cough out a butterfly after they hatched from their eggs. While they're coughing persistently at once, they sounded disgusting and grew louder with each cough.

_Ugh! Gross! I hope I don't end up getting what they've got. _He thought to himself in disgust, the coughs became unbearable for him to hear as he clenched his jagged, draconic teeth, cringing. The longer he'll stick around with the baby dragons, the more likely he'll be infected with either a cold or the flu. "Guys, cover your mouth or nose when you cough or sneeze! If I get sick during a crisis, it will be on your conscience. Who's gonna save the Dragon Realms if I'm ill?" Spyro grimaced; he stared at his siblings sternly as if he's actually telling them off. "Now, can you three get off of me… please?"

At the young, purple dragon's words, the three babies immediately frowned as they reluctantly let their teeny wings lift themselves off of Spyro's underbelly and slowly drift off, inching away from him. Due to the wingspan of their wings, they didn't have the strength to glide very well and promptly landed as soon as their miniature paws touched the verdant grass. Just when they thought they were a safe distance from the heroic dragon, he leapt and caught three of his brothers and sisters, holding them down to the even grass without warning; his wings covered them to prevent them from fleeing.

"Ha! Pinned ya!" He exclaimed, with a chain of laughs that came from deep in his throat. In spite of restraining them in a playful manner, the babies joined in the laughter with him until a tall shadow towered over the four, young dragons, blocking out the sun in the process and the laughter decreased to a minimum. Noticing that the sun is no longer casting its unforgiving rays on them, he turned around to see a tall, blue dragon from Stone Hill standing right behind him, he recognised him as Gildas who happens to be one of the dragons he freed a couple of years ago. He got up on his feet as he dusted himself, what caught his attention is a piece of paper clutched in one of the blue-scaled, winged, reptilian creature's claws.

"Spyro, my friend! It's great to see you, it's been a while!" Gildas greeted, a big grin was plastered on his face. "How's babysitting?"

"Not so good, babysitting is harder than it looks. Hunter told me this earlier and boy, was he right!" Spyro heaved a sigh and wiped his sweat off of his forehead with his front, right paw, childminding was hard work (but not much as defending his homeworld and the rest of the realms) and it nearly drained him of his energy.

"I just came by to see you to drop off some news."

"Lay it on me."

"There is a part-time job vacancy at Dragon Shores and I believe you're the right dragon to look after and protect the beach."

"What the heck are you talking about, Gildas?"

"What I'm trying to say is you watch over and defend the seaside as a lifeguard. You seem to be the type of dragon who's out and about so I figured this kind of job is suitable for you."

"But I don't know the basics of being a lifeguard, let alone how to handle that kind of responsibility."

"Just think of this as being a hero of the seashore. Besides, you've already dealt with bigger responsibilities than this such as being a hero to us dragons and perhaps other worlds or realms. On the bright side, there are some perks and other things about this occupation."

"Like…?"

"Like… staying on the beach to soak up some rays, saving innocent people and creatures from drowning, patrolling the shoreline, enforce rules, not letting any harm befall on anyone and the list goes on. Keep in mind that you can take a break whenever you need to; I also heard that sometimes there will be luau, tropical parties taking place during the night. I assume you'll be a natural at being a lifeguard because you're already protecting us on a daily basis. Seeing as it's part-time, you're absent on the following days: Tuesday, Thursday and the weekends. You're in on the following days: Monday, Wednesday and Friday."

"It sounds like a mouthful, I don't know if I'll have time to take this on. Anything else?"

"Erm… there will be a lot of equipment given to you, a first aid kit, a swimsuit, a manual about being a lifeguard, rulebook, megaphone, surfboard, binoculars and whistle. If you're planning on undertaking this job, let any of us know, find your employer or me. Try your best and you'll do fine."

"How did you know any of this?"

"There was a vacancy poster hanging up somewhere in the amusement park and this message."

An A4-sized piece of pale yellow paper with tons of black, bold text and an orange border surrounding the paper was handed to Spyro, who received it graciously in one of his claws. The message appears to be some kind of flier to advertise the job in an attempt to persuade anybody to apply. At the top of the title, a sphere of burning, red-hot gas everyone calls the sun is shown while at the bottom of the last paragraph, a drawing of a white lifeguard chair with a red sunshade remained motionless behind it. This is what he read:

_CALLING ALL DRAGONS AND OTHER CREATURES OF THE DRAGON REALMS! _

_We are seeking young or old individuals to take on a responsibility as a part-time lifeguard in Dragon Shores. Are you experienced in lifeguard duties? Do you consider yourself a hero amongst others and have the motivation to help and rescue them in need? Then this might be the perfect job for you!_

_Successful applicants will need plenty experience of saving and helping anyone in times of crisis or when disaster is afoot in any environment or on the beach. Other key skills include dedication, motivation, the will power to react to when there's someone in dire danger or require assistance and willingness to learn new skills and apply them each day._

_Full training is required for all successful applicants during the first two weeks of employment. Before you begin your occupation, an array of equipment will be given to you, along with a free swimsuit, whistle, surfboard, lifeguard manual, megaphone, binoculars and rulebook. For more information about becoming a lifeguard, drop by at our office or find us in the seaside at Dragon Shores. We will be looking forward to have you aboard on our lifeguard team._

After a few moments of reading through the flier, Spyro took the liberty of wrapping his tail around it, due to needing his legs and paws to travel around his homeworld. He paused to glance over at Roxy, Hank and Brian to check if they haven't gone anywhere without him watching over them before looking up at Gildas with an uncertain expression on his scaly face. With the responsibility of taking care of the baby dragons and his daily job as the defender of the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds weighing on his wings, along with a enormous amount of pressure, he became doubtful of the newfound employment.

"Think over this after your errand has finished, Spyro." Gildas advised, giving him a simple word of advice to calm his nerves once he became aware of Spyro's doubtful expression. "If you decided that you would accept this occupation, I might see you at Dragon Shores. See you around!"

As he said this, they bid farewell while Gildas turned around, making his way back to the Stone Hill portal. While he walked, he felt the lush, grassy green beneath his hefty feet even as he stomped with every pace he makes. The instant he left his sight; Spyro took a quick look at the vacancy handout before sighing again, knowing that he has this job to think about whether to enrol or not. His thoughts were interrupted when a sequence of sneezes that was ear-splitting and revolting at the same time expelled from the baby dragons' small noses, he swivelled around to see them sitting down patiently waiting for him, wide smiles gracing upon their innocent faces.

"C'mon guys, I ought to take you three home. There's something I need to ponder about." He was about to depart until he heard a string of high-pitched whinges from behind him. The minute he turned round, he noticed them pouting and staring at him in a moping manner, he rolled his eyes as he grumbled to himself. "Fine, you got yourselves a piggyback ride."

He half-heartedly paced to the little ones and allowed one of them to have a piggyback ride on his back. Roxy gently picks herself up and moves smoothly, her wings provided her the ability to fly but only for a short time. Each time she flapped her wings, she increases her altitude above the green, lush grass. When she's hovering over Spyro's scaly, yellow spiny back, she safely landed on it as she tries to make herself comfortable.

On the other hand, Brian and Hank started to whine in disappointment as well as showing displeasure on their expressions. However, their ear-piercing whining caused Spyro to fix his eyes on them.

Unfortunately, due to spending plenty of time with the cold-stricken baby dragons, he felt that his lungs have suddenly gotten sore and became painful. He cleared his throat to make himself a little bit better, he realized that he may come down with something sooner or later if he had to put up with them coughing and sneezing nearly all day and getting on with his errand.

"Sorry, guys. I only have room for one baby dragon on my back." He apologetically replied in a low voice, forcing a faint smile. "I'll promise I'll give you two a piggyback ride the next time I take you boys home, okay?" As much as he enjoys being in the company of his youngest siblings, he couldn't help but having the desire to head home as soon as he can so he doesn't need to stick around any longer. _The sooner I can drop them off at their houses, the sooner I can get back home and rest. I think I caught their cold or their flu, my forehead feels a bit hot._ He thought to himself, softly placing his front, right paw on his forehead. It's so warm the temperature was added to his paw and he felt woozy as if he was on the verge of fainting from the hotness and the lightheadedness.

Despite of his current condition, Hank and Brian cheered ecstatically in a shrill of squeals which filled the air in response to their babysitter's promise, there's nothing like bringing a couple of smiles on their adorable, childlike faces on a busy and daunting day like this. Spyro settled his paw down after a few minutes feel of his forehead, a cold is nothing compared to whupping bad guys' butts on a daily basis but he has to cope with having it nevertheless. And off they went to search for any of the dragons to find out if Roxy, Brian and Hank belonged to them.

Seconds turned into minutes and minutes became hours as the day swept by even further. The day draws to a close as the sun begins to descend from the highest point of the sky and it calls it a day while it slowly made its way down until it vanishes from anyone's view. No longer will it shine its warm rays on the land until it rises to the same sky in the next morning. In a matter of minutes, the sky was painted with warm colours in a combination of yellows, oranges, light oranges and reds, which soon developed to be a breathtaking, beautiful sunset.

Since the night is about to fell over his beloved homeworld, Spyro hurriedly scampered on his four paws to return back to his abode as fast as his legs could carry him after escorting the three bundle of joys back to their residential homes, the moment he exited the tunnel from the main area he skidded to a halt the instant he made contact with a tall and adult-sized, purple dragon who stood in front of one of the lofty towers behind the whirlwind. He just came from Town Square after his conversation came to an end with one of the dragons.

He's in a different shade of purple compared to the purple protagonist, he knew him as one of the dragons from the Year of the Dragon festival before he embarked on his third adventure to retrieve 150 stolen dragon eggs that contained his newborn brothers and sisters. Due to not having any parents and unaware of what exactly happened to them, the full-grown, purple fire-breather acted like Spyro's father or stepfather and cared for him as if he was his own child.

The mature, purple-scaled creature perked up the instant he spotted Spyro standing at the opposite side of him, their eyes were met while they were gazing at each other with warm-hearted, friendly grins across their reptilian lips. "Ah, Spyro. There you are! I see that you're finished with babysitting our brood of baby dragons for the day?"

In response to his question, Spyro gave a reasonable answer after catching his breath from sprinting at a swift pace in an en route to his house. "Yeah, I had a nice time but the errand can be stressful at times. Hunter's right about one thing, caring for the baby dragons isn't that easy."

"What have you got there, young one?"

"Oh, this?" Spyro took a fleeting look at the handout his tail hanged on to before shifting his attention to the tall yet older purple dragon. "It's a flier advertising a part-time vacancy at Dragon Shores as a lifeguard, Gildas gave it to me." He momentarily exhaled a little amount of air noisily from his maw, still unsure about the employment. "But I don't know if I can balance between being a hero and this job as a lifeguard."

"Well… you're old enough to make your own decisions, Spyro. You're still a young dragon, however life isn't all fun and games sometimes. All work and no play, all play and no work… there has to be a balance. It's the way of life so make the most of it as much as you can."

"Uh… yeah. I don't get what you said, well… some of it. I guess I need to think a lot harder about this job."

"For now, we must head home before the sky becomes any darker. You can mull about the occupation there."

And with that, they were walking side-by-side, taking a leisurely stroll to the tunnel and walked over the bridge (near the platform where Tomas used to remain still whilst trapped in crystal) while they're at it. Once they passed Tomas' past position, they eventually approached the cavernous, echoing tunnel with moments to spare.

"I might need to think about it in bed, I don't feel so well." Spyro's voice changed to a hoarse, throaty tone that can be heard easily in the air, reverberating through the darkness of the tunnel.

The shapes of the purple-skinned, winged reptiles decreased to smaller sizes every time as they disappear into the long and extensive, cave-like tunnel as they travel towards home, their shadows were casting on the walls and the floor as they were following everywhere the duo go.

* * *

So here's the first chapter done and dusted. I usually write more than seven pages depending on the amount of ideas I can fit into a chapter but since I don't know what to write next, I decided to end it here. Topaz16 will do the second chapter; Spyro should be feeling under the weather in the second or third chapter 'cause we planned to have him catching the cold in the next day. For now, he's suffering from the first symptoms, a sore throat and a high temperature. Y'know, if he wasn't stuck with babysitting the three baby dragons, he wouldn't catch a cold in the first place.

Now that I finally finished this chapter, I can return to working on the upcoming, long-awaited fifteenth chapter of "_Spyro & Jake Long: Ripto's Revenge_"… which is currently tied with "_A Mario Birthday Party_" for 1st place as the most popular fanfiction out of all my stories. Feel free to vote on my new poll, if you want to. I'm sure it will be hard to debate on which is the best for whoever's casting their votes. Man… this is my first collaboration in years and hopefully, this won't end up 'dead' just like the previous joint-fics with my friends and my little sister.

As for the vacancy flier relating to the part-time job as a lifeguard at Dragon Shores, it was inspired from a lot of job vacancies from websites like for example, the official website of the Manchester Evening News newspaper. If you'd like, you can tell me if my attempt at doing a vacancy is good or not. By the way, Spyro's friends and the other characters aren't important in this chapter but fret not, they will appear in the later chapters.

Click on the button below and review away! Flames won't be appreciated and if we see any, we'll find lots of ways to try to delete them.


	2. Cold, Cough and a Chat

Hello everyone who's reading this fanfic! I'm **Topaz16**! If you're reading this then you probably read the last chapter which contained all the information on how we came up with the idea for this story-in-the-making.

I'm new to the whole 'collaboration' thing and I'm still getting used to everything. Unfortunately, due to school, it'll take me quite a bit to write these chapters but don't worry, I never leave anything unfinished.

I do not own any part of the Spyro franchise. I also do not own the song I used in this chapter during Spyro's dream. I only own my Cat Wizard OC, Macy.

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**Chapter 2: Cold, Cough and a Chat**

Spyro only felt worse and worse as he approached his house, to the point where when he entered he felt like he was going to pass out. _Wow, this cold's taking its toll on me…how could those baby dragons have so much energy?_ Spyro wondered as he trudged towards his kitchen table.

His house was very tidy, perhaps because he was always out on adventures so he didn't have time to mess anything up in the first place. It consisted of a kitchen, bathroom, living room, and bedroom, pretty much all the necessities needed for just one or two people. Sure, he was a hero but living large wasn't his thing.

The young, purple dragon set the flier from earlier on the circular, wooden table and stared at the small black and white square tiles on his floor as he walked out of the room.

"Sparx, are you back yet?" Spyro tried to call as loud as he could without straining his voice. At this point, a small crack in his voice could be heard as if he were going through puberty. He waited for an answer for a few seconds and got nothing. "I guess not…"

He continued to drag himself to his room. As he left the kitchen, the foundation of the floor changed from hard, cold, square tiles to a soft, tan-colored carpet. As the dragon's paws touched the comfortable surface it made him want to stop and sleep there. For a second he could feel his eyes start to close as he stood there, admiring his floor, but he decided that his bed would be a way better place to rest.

Spyro continued to look at the ground, starting to regret that he just didn't take a small rest on the ground. He knew he couldn't let a cold get the best of him. If the baby dragons could handle a simple illness, so could he. Besides, he's been through way worse things. Getting sick may be normal for others but when it comes to someone with a strong immune system like his, he's not used to something like this.

"Almost there." Spyro spoke to himself aloud while walking up some hard, dark, wooden steps.

He then turned his attention to his room. The walls were painted a nice tan color that was similar to that of the rug in his living room downstairs. There was only but one lamp in his room, it was a small one on his nightstand which was to the right of his bed. The lamp was a black dragon with a crème-colored lampshade hovering over top. His bed was big enough for two people despite him being the only one to sleep in it. A denim comforter with multiple designs sewn in it covered his white and Carolina blue striped sheets. His pillows were big and soft, just the way he liked them. They had some sort of blue color to them, to go along with the color scheme of his bed.

The only other things in this heroic dragon's room were a small, wooden desk with a few drawers and a piece of paper on it, a window with a white windowsill, a small, wooden bookshelf, and a wooden closet which he rarely used since he wasn't a big fan of wearing clothes.

He walked over to his comfortable looking bed and pulled the covers up so he could get under. After making himself comfortable, he pulled the covers right over his shoulders but below his head. He started to close his eyes and before he knew it, he was asleep and starting to dream.

In his dream, he was walking along Dragon Shores beach in the middle of the night. It was as if he wasn't even asleep. The waves crashed on the shore and touched his paws, the water felt slightly cold even though he was just dreaming. The stars shined brightly in the night sky and the full moon hung over head.

Spyro continued to walk down the shoreline of the beach, thinking he was alone until he heard something.

_Put all your angels on the edge  
Keep all the roses, I'm not dead  
I left a thorn under your bed_

What was this sound he heard? It was some sort of operatic melody. It was different, it was soothing, it was beautiful… He never heard a voice like this before.

_I'm never gone_

Something attracted the headstrong hero to this singing. He wondered where it was coming from and who could've possibly made music so great.

_Go tell the world I'm still around  
I didn't fly, I'm coming down  
you are the wind, the only sound  
Whisper to my heart  
when hope is torn apart  
and no one can save you_

From far away, all he could tell was that the voice was female. The purple, scaly creature was instantly drawn to it and felt himself nearing the source. It was as if he were possessed by something.

_I walk alone  
Every step I take  
I walk alone  
My winter storm  
Holding me awake  
It's never gone  
When I walk alone_

He saw something in the distance; he could make out the shape of some sort of creature sitting on the rocks that happened to be jutting out about a few feet away from where he was standing.

Spyro continued to drag himself toward the figure, eager to see who or what it was. Even though he was willing to go see the creature who was producing this beautiful sound, he felt as though something came over him and was almost controlling him.

_Go back to sleep forever more  
Far from your fools and lock the door  
They're all around and they'll make sure  
You don't have to see  
What I turned out to be  
no one can help you_

The singing stopped when he got up close to the figure, though he could only see the back. All that was visible was the female's long, wavy, flowing, lilac hair. It covered her whole back. Since she was sitting with her back facing him, Spyro couldn't see much except her hair, her arms, which were resting to the sides of her, and her ears. Her arms were long, skinny, humanlike, and Carolina blue in color. Her ears, on the other hand, were a strange shape. They looked like the gills of a fish, I guess one would call them gill-ears.

Spyro didn't want to scare her but was curious to see what the front of her looked like. In all the realms and different places he's travelled to in his entire life, he hasn't seen any creature like this.

He never did get to see the front of her though. A sudden coughing fit woke him up. Now out of his dream state, he was coughing rapidly. His coughs were deep and hoarse with a hint of mucus. Overall, they were very displeasing to the ear.

_No! Out of all the times to get a coughing fit why do I have to get it when I was about to see who that person was? _Spyro's mind went just as crazy as his coughs did. He tried to squeeze his eyes shut and fall back to sleep but his constant coughing kept him up. He decided that it was time for him to get a glass of water.

He warily walked out of his room and down the steps. When he reached the living room he stopped for a moment and started to ponder. Normally dreams didn't make a big impact on him but his secret talent was singing so he was interested in who this girl was. Perhaps he would have the dream again when he fell back to sleep? More like _if_ he fell back to sleep, this cold was probably going to keep him up all night.

Spyro figured that the quicker he would get a drink and get out of there, the quicker he could go to bed and hopefully have that dream again. He walked into the black and white tiled room. The walls were plain white as well as many other things in there such as the refrigerator, the microwave, and the counters. He walked over to the metal sink and grabbed a glass cup out of a nearby counter. Spyro turned the faucet up and filled it up a little more than half way.

He walked over to the table where he had put the flier on earlier and took a seat in one of the wooden chairs there. It was uncomfortable for him to sit there since he wasn't feeling too well; the chair was too hard for him. He slumped back and tried to relax. He closed his eyes and took a sip of his cold water.

"There you are." a voice buzzed. Spyro knew this voice anywhere but opened one eye just to make sure it was who he thought it was.

"Hey there Sparx." Spyro said in a low, raspy voice. He let out a few harsh coughs and took another sip of his water.

"Are you alright?" Sparx buzzed in his native tongue since he couldn't speak English.

Spyro shook his head. "Remember how I went to babysit some baby dragons today?" Spyro asked. He didn't reply until Sparx shook his head in reply. "Well, they kind of got me sick when they were bouncing on me and trying to tackle me…"

"That explains why you were asleep so early. I got home a few hours ago and saw that you were asleep so I didn't want to wake you up. You kept coughing and I couldn't sleep. Finally, when I started dozing off I realized you weren't there so I came to find you," Sparx explained sympathetically.

Spyro felt bad for keeping Sparx up all night. "I'm sorry buddy." Spyro apologized. "This cold is a tough one." Spyro sighed and took a couple more sips of his water. He could tell he was losing his voice more and more with every word that came out of his mouth.

Sparx decided to switch the subject when he saw the A4-sized piece of pale yellow paper on the table next to him. "What's this?" Sparx questioned his pal curiously while flying over to the paper and landing on it.

"Oh, it's an advertisement. It's about a job opening at Dragon Shores to be a part-time lifeguard." Spyro told the yellow dragonfly.

As Sparx skimmed the paper his look changed from a curious one to one of disbelief. "Tomorrow's Friday, you know." Sparx stated.

"And I plan on going to Dragon Shores tomorrow." Spyro said confidently despite his sickness.

"I don't think that's a great-" Sparx started to say slowly but was interrupted by some rough coughing, coming from his best friend, that made him sound like he was choking on something. Sparx blurted, "I don't think that's a good idea. You should get some rest. Why don't you just go on Monday instead? This will give you the whole weekend to rest."

Spyro took a sip of water to stop his coughing. He could feel the cold liquid slowly slip down his esophagus and cause him some relief. He argued, "I'm starting tomorrow. A little cold can't bring me down."

Sparx fought, "But I'm worried about you; you should rest!"

Spyro gulped down the rest of his water but it didn't seem to do any good for his voice. "I'm going upstairs," were his last words for the night. The teenager started to have a slight headache. He put his glass in the sink and opened up his freezer in search of an icepack.

He found a small, blue icepack near the back of the freezer and carried it back to his room in his mouth. After he plopped into his bed, he positioned the icepack on his head right where he wanted it. It lay between his two horns, cooling him down a bit.

Spyro's purple eyelids slowly started to close and he thought about tomorrow, completely forgetting about the dream he had before.

* * *

Spyro got up out of bed so quickly that he nearly fainted. A wave of dizziness swept over him and for a second he went blind. His head was so numb from the icepack being on it all night that he didn't even realize it fall off of his head until he heard a _thump!_ on the ground.

He clutched his forehead and waited until he regained his eyesight before picking up the icepack. _Today's the day_, he thought as he looked at a digital alarm clock that sat on his nightstand. The blue numbers indicated that it was already noon. _Wow! I slept that late?_

As he headed downstairs to get some breakfast he thought, _At least I can talk in my mind without having a raspy voice._

Spyro found a glass of orange juice on the table next to some eggs and bacon. Was that for him? He walked over to the table and saw a small, purple post-it note with writing on it. He picked it up and started to read it.

_Dear Spyro,_

_I'm still worried about you and I don't think you should go to Dragon Shores today. Since you slept in so late, I decided to make you some breakfast but you'll have to heat it up since it'll probably be cold. I wish I could've stayed here to check up on you but I promised Zoe that I would spend some time with her today. I hope you like the breakfast and I hope you get well soon!_

_Your buddy,_

_Sparx_

Spyro set the small paper down and smiled. He would have to thank Sparx later for being such a great friend.

He grabbed the porcelain plate and brought it over to a small, white microwave and heated up his food for about forty seconds. _That should be enough_, Spyro thought while taking the steamy plate out of the microwave. He didn't dare talk out loud because he wanted to save his voice for when he would go to Dragon Shores.

The small, but tough, dragon set the dish down on the table and took a seat. He clutched a nearby metal fork in one of his claws and stabbed the scrambled eggs on his plate. He put a piece in his mouth and it burned like crazy. _I guess Sparx didn't make this too long ago… _He was either going to have to wait until his food cooled down or just eat it slowly.

Spyro sighed. This was going to be a long day but he was still excited for what was to come.

* * *

Here's chapter two! I hope you liked it! (: Sorry it took me forever, with school around things get busy. Flowerstar will be writing the next chapter. I ended it here because I didn't want to ruin her plans for what happens at Dragon Shores in the next chapter and I wasn't sure where to go from here. XD

Anyways, please review. It would mean a lot to us and constructive criticism is welcome, just no flames. =)


	3. Induction & New Colleague

The original _Spyro the Dragon _series, Spyro, Sparx, Zoe, Moneybags, Marco the balloonist, Bob (the interviewer who appeared in _Spyro the Dragon_), Delbin, Tomas, Nestor, Dragon Realms, Avalar, Forgotten Worlds, Midnight Mountain homeworld, Artisans Homeworld and Dragon Shores. Macy is Topaz16's original character and she belongs to her. Smokey (Spyro's colleague), Stanley (Spyro and Smokey's employer) and Daniel (Spyro and Smokey's instructor) are my original characters and they rightfully belong to me, they were created exclusively for this collaborated fanfiction.

Hi, it's Flowerstar again! I'm back with the third chapter of the collaboration after a long hiatus, due to my GCSE English assignments and work placement. I'd like to thank my loyal reviewer, **ChrisMSMB**, and **Scarlet Embers** for reviewing our collaboration. **Topaz16** and I should have mentioned this in the first chapter but keep in mind that Spyro is 14 years old in the story, a teenager in dragon years.

I'm now officially 21 years old and my birthday has already gone past. Even though I'm disappointed that no Mario games were released in November (usually when it comes to my country and the rest of Europe, either one, two or more Mario games came out in November and it's dubbed "Mario Month"), I was delighted with the amount of presents and cards I received from my friends and family. On the bright side, unlike last year I didn't get sick.

You know what's strange? While I was still working on this chapter and after I finished my video tribute, "_Died In Your Eyes – Macy x Bartholomew_" (a fanmade video tribute to the main couple of **Topaz16**'s "_A Yeti's Love_" and the story), I've gotten sick when I realised my nose felt weird and my throat became slightly sore and I've been feeling under the weather since 29th November. I don't know where I caught my bad cold from, probably from the enormous amount of snow that blanketed most of my country and the freezing temperature. Speaking of coming down with an awful cold, Spyro will feel just as worse as I did and his symptoms will get even more unpleasant as the story unfolds.

Since **Topaz16**'s "_A Yeti's Love_" took place during _Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon_, the collaboration took place two years after the game and my partner's fanfiction. Spyro might have been 12 years old (that makes him a pre-teen) 'cause the fairies delivered a batch of dragon eggs to the Dragon Realms every 12 years so he's 14 years old in the story which means he's a teenager in dragon years. Anyway, the game is obviously named after one of the creatures from the Chinese Zodiac and the year of the Dragon happens every 12 years. Lol, how ironic that it will be the year of the Dragon again next year and the London 2012 Olympics! In my opinion, the game is the best way to celebrate Chinese New Year, way back in 2000!

By the way, the instructor is named after one of my old college friends and the other reason for his name is the alliteration. Y'know - "Daniel the Dragon", awesome alliteration, isn't it? So here's the long-anticipated third chapter of my first collaboration in years!

* * *

**Chapter 3: Induction & New Colleague **

Through the wee hours of the morning of the first day of the lifeguard job, Spyro was in the midst of having his breakfast all by his lonesome in the kitchen. He would have enjoyed it more if he didn't get infected with a cold in the first place. Not a single sound was in the air except for the occasional one or two ear-splitting hacking coughs that escaped his small maw; he cleared his throat to make himself feel better.

He still felt just as worse as yesterday night, his eyes were bloodshot and puffy. Due to the countless quantity of snot within his nostrils, his nose has already become stuffy and red. Not to mention, a trickle of snot dribbled out of his nostrils so he snivelled to prevent the revolting snot from sliding down even more.

On top of everything else, he had the urge to send out a sneeze from his reddish, blocked nose. "AH… AH… AHHH… AH-CHOOOOOOOO!" A powerful torrent of red-hot, flaming fire and a great deal of perfectly revolting snot were sent forward from his nose. Luckily, the flames didn't set anything alight and they instantly dispersed completely after hanging around in the air for a while.

Spyro snivelled before a hacking cough was expelled from his throat, he groaned since his cough harmed it greatly. His cough was a broken cough with a rough and loud sound, it was so noisy and disturbing at the same time it reverberated off the walls of the kitchen and bounced off the corners of the ceiling.

_Maybe I should have listened to Sparx and stay at home. _He thought to himself, suddenly having second thoughts and recalling Sparx's advice from last night. "No, I shouldn't let a little cold keep me from going to Dragon Shores. I've been through way worse things than this."

Unfortunately, the rest of the morning wasn't getting any better for him as a combination of mucus coughs and ear-splitting hacking coughs erupted from his lungs, each cough was getting louder and much worse by the minute. He covered his mouth with one of his claws as he coughed harder.

To calm his bad coughs, he took a sip of his orange juice from the glass and gently settled it on the table. He sighed even as he felt some kind of ticklish feeling inside his oesophagus, having the urge to cough again. As he expected, a consecutive chain of chesty coughs were ejected from his reptilian lips. He took a swig of orange juice to stop him from coughing anymore.

His breakfast should have cooled down by the time he stopped coughing so he resumed to eating the freshly-cooked eggs and bacon. The only things on his mind are what awaits him at Dragon Shores and whether he gets the job as a part-time lifeguard or not.

* * *

Meanwhile, Sparx was spending some more quality time with Zoe in front of the pink flowers beside the portal to Toasty inside the mouth of the dragon's face. The pink flowers were swaying left and right, the light wind was blowing them. Currently, Sparx was in a mixture of emotions that overflowed his mind, he's a teeny bit angry with Spyro for being pig-headed and still worried about him due to falling ill with a minor sickness.

Everything fell silent between them, not a single word has left their lips or a single sentence has spoken until Zoe broke the silence. Clearly, she doesn't want it to carry on any further.

"What's the matter, Sparx? You're usually not like this." Zoe asked, looking in Sparx's direction worryingly. Telling by her tone of voice she was concerned about the golden dragonfly and wondering if there's something wrong with him.

"I told Spyro to stay at home and rest but he refused." Sparx replied, finally finding the words to let go from his microscopic mouth. "Sometimes, he can be so stubborn!" He angrily crossed his arms and turned away, apparently he's still a little furious with his best buddy and avoiding eye contact with the fairy from Avalar.

"Don't be so hard on Spyro, what's the matter with him?" Zoe fluttered towards the irritated insect and gently placed her hand on one of his shoulders to calm him down after she brought her flying to a halt.

With a frown, Sparx explained to the fairy what's wrong with his best friend as best as he could in detail. "He came down with a bad cold after he came home from his babysitting errand. He caught it from the baby dragons, that's why he kept coughing last night." The dragonfly shuddered, recalling the perturbing memories of him not being able to sleep last night while Spyro suffered from a coughing fit.

"Spyro got sick?" Zoe gasped, her eyes immediately grew large. She wasn't expecting to hear that kind of news from the gold dragonfly. Her face softened and it immediately changed to an expression of fear, not looking forward to the future and the upcoming days. "Ooooh… that doesn't bode well. I dread to think the villains finding out about this."

Ever since he's been with Spyro as best friends from the beginning, Sparx was aware that his best buddy has little regard for his safety and he tends to get stubborn no matter what circumstance it is. "You're saying like it's a big deal, Zoe. I know I'm still fretting about him but he probably thinks he doesn't need anyone to look out for him. He may be fourteen years old but that doesn't mean we stop caring about him."

Understanding how serious the situation may become, Zoe tenderly positioned her other tiny, feminine hand underneath the golden dragonfly's chin to bring it upwards, causing him to look deeply into her green or emerald eyes. Telling by her tone, she's exceedingly worried about Spyro's well-being and how this will effect the three, fantasy-like worlds and realms. "That's true, we care about him because he's our friend. If his foes realise he's poorly, they might take full advantage of his ill condition and launch an attack on the Dragon Realms, Avalar or the Forgotten Worlds when we least expect it or even worse, they will consider killing him without mercy if they find out he's unable to breathe fire because of his cold and sore throat."

"Now that you've mentioned it, I never thought about that."

"Speaking of him, where is he going?"

"He's going to Dragon Shores to get a job as a part-time lifeguard."

"Since when Spyro has some spare time for an occupation?"

"Ever since Spyro and I whupped the Sorceress's butt, not much has happened in the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds except maybe a few minor problems here. I'm guessing he must have all the time in the world, he decided to apply for a job to maybe keep away from the publicity and the media."

"Should we head to Dragon Shores to keep an eye on him?"

"As much as I want to, we shouldn't go because we might distract Spyro from his job if he does manage to get it. Maybe we should visit him at the right time, when he wants to see us."

"Well… I don't see any harm in leaving him to his new job. I'm sure he can take care of himself, unless his cold gets even worse for him."

As gentle as she was, Zoe slowly moved her minuscule, womanly hand away from Sparx's chin to leave him pondering about his ailing best friend and hero. The Avalari fairy was just as worried as he was, like he was last night.

"I hope Spyro is all right, I hope he hasn't gotten himself into trouble and received my note." He let his words flow out of his teensy mouth in a low, hushed voice to no one in particular but himself. Even if he tried to talk his close friend out of travelling to Dragon Shores, it's already too late to change his mind and he could have left the house by now.

* * *

After consuming everything on his plate, Spyro picked it up with his mouth and stretched out his tail, wrapping it around the empty glass of orange juice. He slowly made his way to the sink whilst trying to keep his sickly eyes open and feeling light-headed at the same time, on the brink of collapsing to the floor from a huge amount of dizziness.

It's bad enough he felt tired as well, the kind of tired where he wasn't sure if he just woken up or just falling asleep. A variety of symptoms were overwhelming him but they didn't stop him from reaching the sink. Since it's already getting late and the time is ticking away, he promptly left his porcelain dish and the glass at the bottom of the basin and exited through the doorway.

He woozily walked pass the doorway to the living room, coughing as he was making a short journey to the flight of stairs. The more he coughed, the more his throat hurts. His miniature, white talons and his feet touched the surface with every step he made, ignoring the intensive pain and soreness in his lungs from coughing so much.

It wasn't long until he's at the bottom of the staircase, leading upwards to his bedroom that he shared with Sparx. Thankfully, his dreadful, disturbing coughs was brought to a halt by the time he's within reach of the stairway. He heaved a sigh before gradually walking up, the steps creaked silently each time his scaly feet touched the wooden surface.

Fortunately, nearly everyone in the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds doesn't know that Spyro has recently fallen ill. If word gets out, chaos ensues: the citizens of each of the worlds will take the news seriously, a vast number of rumours will be spreading around about him, the interviewers will be chasing him down and asking him questions, this kind of news will be included in newspapers and his enemies (if they're still alive, that is) will eventually know about this.

Those were the last of his worries and as long as nobody knows about his current ill condition, everything will be fine. Of course, that's what he's thinking about right now while those thoughts entered his mind, one by one. They were interrupted when a sudden, strident sneeze left his nose unexpectedly. "AH-CHOO!" Several sheets of flames and disgusting snot were released at the same time, the inferno and the smoke stayed in the air for a while until they instantaneously diffused.

_I'll pack the essentials before going out, it's important to be prepared than not being prepared at all. _He thought to himself, he knew packing things up would mean he would use them later on in the day if it were necessary.

He eventually arrived at the doorway to his bedroom, before he could enter it; another continuous chain of hacking coughs was ejected from his reptilian lips that lasted for a couple of seconds. They were short and dry but small, causing a great deal of pain to his throat as if it was on fire from the inside. While he coughed harder, he dizzily strolled into the cosiness of his bedroom that he shared with Sparx.

"I might as well get started, it's bad enough I had to cope with this cold while gathering my stuff for my first day at work." He muttered in a low, hoarse voice, to no one in particular but himself. He dazedly let his purple eyes wander around his bedroom, looking for any object or important items to take with him.

* * *

Further away from Spyro's humble abode that he shared with Sparx, Moneybags hasn't learnt a lesson from his previous failure of attempting to sell a dragon egg for a fortune in Avalar and is up to his usual swindling tricks by trying to fleece Marco the balloonist of his gems. They were face-to-face, standing on the dock near the hot air balloon which usually takes Spyro or anyone to anywhere in the Dragon Realms.

Deep down inside himself, he's planning to seek revenge on not only Spyro for chasing him around Midnight Mountain whilst torching his butt and claiming all the gems back in the process but Macy as well for not being able to rip her off at the Sorceress's castle and not succeeding in his plan of drowning her. He may have retired to Spooky Swamp to pursue a career or a job as a haiku poet but he somehow reverted back to talking in a well-spoken voice. However, he's unaware of Spyro's sickness and the fact he'll become one of the new lifeguards of Dragon Shores soon. Not to mention, they were nowhere to be seen in the world of dragons.

As if he's running a bargain sale at a stall in a hustling and bustling market, Moneybags raised his voice in a jovial, overexcited manner, in order to get the balloonist's attention and getting him hyped up. "Don't miss this opportunity! I assure you I have something marvellous that will enhance your hot air balloon! Feast your eyes on this!" He reached into his tuxedo and dragged out what appears to be a brand-new balloon without an excessive amount of helium pumped into it. A striped pattern covered the entire balloon; forest green and green stripes went to the bottom from the top. Those colours resemble the lush, rolling hills and green valleys of the Artisans Homeworld. For the finishing touch, intricate leafy patterns were printed within the stripes, creating lovely curls and swirls from the far left and ending at the far right.

To get a closer look at the balloon, Marco leaned forward as he placed a gloved hand to his chin, pondering to himself. Not only is he thinking this over, he's uncertain about the eye-catching, beautiful balloon due to the gossip that's been going around from resident to resident, in relation to Moneybags' gem-swindling deeds. "Hmm… I don't know… there are rumours spreading around that you've conned everyone you meet out of their gems, which includes Spyro."

Moneybags tried to cover up his lies and disagreed with the gossip that's been going round the population of the three worlds. In order to fleece the Artisans balloonist off his hard-earned money, the penny-pinching ursus arctos tried his best to keep the unconfirmed reports under wraps. "What poppycock! How absurd! All of those rumours and gossip you've listened to is a bunch of gibberish. I guarantee you this balloon is the thing you need to increase the altitude in the air and it will take you to new heights. I suppose I could lend it to you, for… ahem… a small fee."

After giving this a bit more thought, the balloonist still kept his keen eyes on the helium balloon and its colourful, intricate pattern. There was nothing like that in the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds, it's something that's beyond compare and a beauty to behold. "That brand new balloon sounds a bit promising but how much is it?"

"I'll be willing to hand it over for… let's say… 700 gems?"

No matter how interesting and spectacular the balloon looks and it's an offer he can't refuse, Marco shook his head, turning down the bargain whilst he glared unsympathetically at an appalled Moneybags, who was close to the point of yelling in his face or at the end of his tether. "No can do, Moneybags. Seems like the rumours are indeed true, I can't believe you have the nerve to overcharge me for that balloon. There is possibly no way I'll hand over 700 gems to you."

"WHAT? No? What are you saving up your money for? Improvements on your hot air balloon? Heh, heh… that's a good one. But seriously, you really shouldn't refuse my offer. This is a once in a life-time opportunity!"

"I'm sorry for being very rude but would you be so kind to leave me alone? Or I'll let Spyro know that you're trying to cheat me out my money."

The instant he heard the courageous, headstrong dragon's name, Moneybags cringed. The memories returned to haunt him of Spyro setting his rear on fire and constantly charging into him, reclaiming every single gem back that he ripped off the young, purple dragon in the process whilst chasing him around the Midnight Mountain homeworld in a circle after the seemingly defeat of the Sorceress.

Each time Moneybags is on the receiving end of a burnt butt or getting his rump charged into with Spyro's horns, he screams at the top of his voice in discomfort, soreness and agony of how much the attacks harmed him. Each memory flowed into his head as he pictured them vividly, one at a time in order. He remembered each of them, starting from encountering the spunky, purple-scaled dragon in the Midnight Mountain homeworld at a bridge between the Crystal Island and Desert Ruins portals after the Sorceress's downfall and the flashbacks ended at where the self-centred, obese bear surrendered, leaving the dragon egg unharmed and strangely, fled into the Crystal Islands portal instead of returning to the Spooky Swamp like he said. He shook his head to snap himself back into reality as his final reminiscence gradually faded out, he'll never forget his humiliating days from the past.

"Very well… since you declined my good deal, I'll be on my way." He muttered bitterly, he promptly swivelled around and turned to the exit doorway of the grand, Artisan building that was located near the small maze which was in a deep tint of green. "One way or another I'll get my paws on those gems I rightfully deserve." He added under his breath, with his back facing a relieved Marco even as he darkly shifted his dark green eye to his direction. After he momentarily averted his eyes as he gazed forward, he was lost in his own thoughts about his doubts as well as Spyro and Macy. _I may be afraid of ending up with a barbecued backside perhaps for the second time and my scam becoming a disappointment, but I'll make sure I'll exact my revenge on Spyro and Macy somehow. Hmm… I must say… where are those impertinent brats today?_

The instant he disappeared completely inside the majestic building, Marco wiped his forehead with one of his hands and heaved a sigh of relief, very thankful the gem-grabbing scumbag of a bear missed his chance to swipe his cash.

"Phew! That's the last time I almost fell for his swindling tricks." He murmured gratefully. Slowly but surely, a faint smile has returned to grace upon his face.

* * *

An hour later, Spyro was jogging along the lush, green grass in the Artisans Homeworld after painstakingly rooting through his room in every nook and cranny for anything to shove into his purple bag, it's in a deeper shade of purple so it wouldn't mix with his scales and the straps were violet. Since his scales were purple, it's possible that purple is his favourite colour.

The bag was reasonably large enough to be draped over his little cranium, neck and body. All the essentials were packed into his bag: sunscreen, a light purple towel, a bottle of crystal clear water, a packet of tissues (for catching his coughs and sneezes into them, spitting out gooey, bright green mucus into the tissues and wiping or blowing his nose) and a pair of sunglasses (the same sunglasses he wore during the interview with Bob after peace was restored to all five worlds of the Dragon Realms, every gem were recovered, each of the dragon eggs were retrieved and Gnasty Gnorc was vanquished along with army of minions).

Unluckily, his cold wasn't getting any better for him. The more he ran, the more he panted and the more likely he's about to cough uncontrollably but he didn't have a choice, he was very late as it is. To make matters worse, he has yet another headache to put up with which was throbbing his head painfully. All of a sudden, uncontrollable sequences of terrible, hacking coughs were sent out from his fiery lungs every time he breathed heavily.

The portal to Dragon Shores is in his line of vision and within reach, only a small number of metres to go. Seeing as he's in a hurry, he didn't stop in his tracks to cover his scaly lips with one of his claws to prevent any gruesome germs from spreading to any residents passing by him.

By the time he arrived in front of the portal that bears "Dragon Shores" in miniature, golden capital letters that shifts left and right repetitively and gave off a glimmering sheen of gold, his hacking coughs stopped straight away as he skidded to a standstill like he always does whenever he desired to slower his pace and discontinue his sprinting in the midst of his heroic adventures. Without looking back, he spread out his wings to a greater extent and flew into the portal, gliding smoothly to his destination.

* * *

Once he arrived at Dragon Shores, he let his eyes slowly wander to find any trace of Gildas but he was nowhere to be seen.

There was boundless of sand as far as the eye can see and numerous buildings, shops and facilities in all shapes, sizes, heights, widths and colours can be seen for miles behind the seaside. A gentle, warm wind swept across the sand and the sea was so calm, nothing could make it angry and raging like a volcano erupting and spewing out lava rocks everywhere. A single, white lifeguard chair can be seen at the centre of the lengthy sand and an unfilled, metal recycle bin sits at the left of it in case one of the new lifeguards might need to use it. Luckily, the chair was the perfect size for either of them to sit on and be on the lookout for any tidal waves, anyone drowning in the ocean or anything out of the ordinary.

Obviously, the amusement park is further away from the beach so it's very difficult to see it in the distance. A few miles away from the seashore, the theme park and the whole summery landscape lies a tall, white lighthouse on the far right of the seaside, sitting on a rocky, rock-strewn cliff. No vivid light is emitting from it at the moment since it's daytime. The light source only shines brightly at night time to show any boats, water transport and swimmers the way back to the beach.

Occasionally, the icy waves come rolling in and they retreat on occasion. Fortunately, they don't lap further up the sand and only managed to reach the shoreline. Just like Seashell Shore in the Forgotten Worlds and Sunny Beach in Avalar, the sand is littered with white seashells and starfishes that were collected by the seawater and washed ashore. They come in all sorts of shapes, sizes and colours ranging from the smallest to the biggest and from the lightest colour to the darkest colour, depending on what colour the seashells and starfishes are.

On the right of the lifeguard chair a few metres away is a tan-coloured, wooden lifeguard watch tower that is used for storing equipment and lifeguard kits. The tower is in a shape of a vertical oblong or a 3D rectangle that has the capacity of fitting two or three lifeguards inside, depending on how many are entering the building and it doesn't matter what height, width or weight they are. On the left, front and right sides, there are reasonably medium-sized, square-shaped windows and the flat roof is for any lifeguards to be on the lookout for tidal waves, dire danger and anything out of the ordinary. At the front, there is a deep tan-coloured, wooden door with a silver handle, a small rectangular-shaped window above it and a single horizontal, rectangular-shaped doorstep below the door. The watch tower is clearly for lifeguards (and occasionally their trainer or their boss comes in to check up on the teenage dragons) only. To notify the public that there's no entry to the tower, there is a white sign below the door handle, on the door bearing the words, "Lifeguards Only" in red, capital letters.

Finally, a hut sits three metres away from the lifeguard chair, the beach house and the recycling bin. That's where the residents of all ages and species go to get a refill, a refreshing drink or a mouth-watering cocktail. If anyone is parched or thirsty, it's convenient for him or her and it's accessible. Currently, it's closed due to induction and lifeguard training.

_That's weird… I thought Gildas would be here. He said so himself. I suppose he'll show up later today._ He wondered to himself in his mind, recalling Gildas's last sentence from yesterday before he made his way back to the Stone Hill portal and leaving him in the company of the three ailing baby dragons.

Due to the humid hotness and the tropical heat wave, they were too much for him to handle that he was on the verge of passing out. It was bad enough his fever was going from bad to worse and the sweltering temperature of this vacation spot was increasing the temperature of his fever on his forehead.

Because of lifeguard training, Dragon Shores was actually deserted and not a single creature or talking animal is occupying the beach. Dragon Shores doesn't actually open until the training sessions have ended and a certain number of employees have been recruited onto the lifeguard team. Clearly, the inhabitants have been notified and will fill up the entire beach by the time the new employees were fully trained.

"AH… AHH… AHHH… AHHHH… AH-CHOOOOOOOOO!" He placed a claw over his snout, threw back his head and forced out air abruptly and raucously at the same time as he thrust his head forward, a gush of red-hot, roasting fire and a great deal of perfectly repulsive snot were sent forward from his snout. "Where the heck is everyone?" He weakly muttered, regaining his posture after an ear-splitting, dissonant sneeze after he snivelled at full volume.

His question was answered when he saw two, dragonesque figures on the horizon that are approaching him. The black silhouette on the left appeared to be much taller than the one on the right; its height and size are identical to him but slightly a couple of feet shorter.

With every step they make, the two strangers are coming up to him closer and closer, leaving a trail of paw prints behind them in the sand. Since the sand was remarkably soft and incredibly uneven, the paw prints are still left within the surface as if they are permanently there, similar to a sophisticated, decorative ink print imprinted enduringly on a blank, white piece of paper. By the time they were within Spyro's vision, they brought their walking to a halt and stayed there, a few feet away from him.

The first dragon seems to be just as tall as the other adult dragons in the Dragon Realms and he's in the middle-age generation. Just like peers of the realm, a rugged beard was visible around his chin and upper part of his adult-sized face. His red scales covered all of his well-built body and his outsized wings were stretched out to a greater extent that was made for flying long distances. His wings are in a lighter tint of crimson with scarlet webbing, his underbelly was ochre and his colossal talons are black. In contrast to his scales, his four, burgundy horns are sticking upwards and his eyes are hazel. Numerous cherry-coloured spines started from the back of his head and ended at his claret-coloured, spade-shaped tip of his tail. In comparison to Delbin, his scaly face, eyebrows, jaws and snout are in a colourless hue of red and are in parallel to Delbin's features on his face.

The second dragon was a similar size to Spyro but he's a few feet shorter and he's a quadruped as in able to stand on four feet. His whole body is covered in grey scales, his wingspan was identical to his colleague and his medium-sized, golden horns were curved back. His underbelly was in a paler shade of white and so were his extremely small talons, his wings were yellow with dark grey webbing and his eyes were sky blue. His muzzle, scaly face, eyebrows and maw were all in similar sizes in parallel to his workmate's reptilian lips, eyebrows, face and nose. On the other hand, his small, golden spines went from the back of his head and extend to the gold, arrow-shaped tip on his tail and he doesn't have any large spines that resembled a mohawk, unlike his cold-stricken co-worker.

_I-Is th-that who I think it is? I swear I've seen or heard him before. He's the hero on everyone's lips these days 'cause he's famous for wipin' the floor with Gnasty Gnorc and restoring order to the Dragon Realms._ _Bu-But i-it co-couldn't be him, could it? _The small, grey-coloured dragon's eyes expanded to an outsized size and his jaw dropped at the sight of the heroic purple protector of the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds standing right before him. It's his lifelong dream or desire to meet Spyro, he definitely heard stories about his daring deeds and amazing adventures but he never had a chance to actually meet him.

"I see you must be here to be enrolled onto my lifeguard squad, is this correct?" The first dragon asked in a refined tone of voice, he extended his claw towards his new employee just like how bosses usually greet their brand-new workers.

Without any hesitation, Spyro graciously offered his purple claw to shake his manager's immense claw. "Yeah, that's why I'm here." He answered in a hoarse, rasping voice, simply nodding to his employer's question even as he gazed upwards and fixed his eyes on him. Due to the fact that his manager was much taller than him, it's hard to tell what colour his eyes, horns, wings, talons and scales are.

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Stanley and I am your employer." Stanley introduced himself in a polite manner to the poorly, purple dragon just like he did to his other employee, who arrived numerous hours ago in the morning. "Hmm… you're not very familiar but I might have heard of you. Do you have a sensible reason why you're late?" He instantly changed his tone of voice to one of strictness at his last sentence as he sternly glowered at his worker for his tardiness, his unsympathetic eyes pierced straight into his innocent, purple eyes.

Seeing as the courageous but strong, purple dragon isn't the type of guy to tell fibs, he gave his well-spoken, strict boss an apologetic frown. He knew lying isn't going to get him out of the conversation so he had no choice but to tell the truth. "Sorry. I overslept and the flier didn't say what time I have to go to my interview. Heck, I didn't even know there was one!"

Unfortunately, the manager towered over the denizen, teenage hero and stared down at him sternly in spite of the truth he received. The volume of his voice was increasing to the limit and his tone kept changing with every word that escaped from his giant maw. The only thing he absolutely loathed the most is his workers turning up very late, either with a good excuse or not. "This is no excuse for your tardiness, this is unacceptable! How disrespectful, this is a disgrace to my employees and I! However… seeing as it is your first time, I will give you a chance. Normally, I dismiss anyone who is awfully late to the interviews but I'll make this an exception. I hope your skills and abilities are better than your punctuality because they are vital to employ them in your responsibilities as a lifeguard."

"But it wasn't my fault! How was I supposed to know there's an interview? I didn't know I had to wake up ea—"

"How dare you talk back to me! In all my years as an employer, I never met an impudent, juvenile delinquent such as you giving me cheek! Furthermore, if there are any infractions of any kind or if your work is inadequate, your employment is terminated. Do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal clear. Wasn't there supposed to be an interview for me to attend?"

After a small number of seconds has passed, Stanley gave a huge sigh and his face softened after going into several minutes of rants, putting his mind at ease. "Fortunately for you, there are no interviews due to the huge stack of paperwork waiting for me in the office. How discourteous of me, where are my manners? I almost forgot to introduce you to our other new recruit." He motioned his head in the grey-skinned, winged reptile's direction, showing the purple protagonist who he's referring to. "This young man over there is Smokey, he will be your colleague and he will be present on the following days, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday each week at 9 o'clock in the morning. You'll be attending here on Monday, Wednesday and Friday every week at 9 o'clock in the morning as well. You will be absent on Tuesday, Thursday and the weekends every week and your colleague is not present on the days you are attending. I'll leave you both acquainted, your trainer will arrive shortly."

And with that, he walked off to the far right of the beach that stretches out to other parts of Dragon Shores, leaving his two employees alone to become friendly with each other, be accustomed to what the seashore has to offer and wait patiently for their trainer to make his appearance. Even though he has completely left their sight after one or two minutes, not a single word has spoken and neither of them made a single movement. Supposing they are kind of petrified in his presence or they are shy to start a conversation, in order to befriend each other.

In contrast to the stingy, unkind manager, Smokey felt sorry for the celebrated, golden-horned defender and strolled in a laid-back manner to his direction. Noticing his colleague feeling down in the dumps while he had his hunched back facing him, he decided to stand by him to console and relieve him off of what happened previously by looking into his saddened, tearful eyes. "Hey… don't let our boss get you down on your first day, I think he's always like that to employees. He can be really strict whenever people are late. Anyway, he already told you my name so what's yours?"

Spyro turned his head to meet his friendly gaze and a kind-hearted smile broadened across Spyro's purple, reptilian lips, he felt welcomed and at ease after getting a scolding from his strict manager and from what's been through with his horrible cold ever since last night. "I'm Spyro."

The instant he heard the familiar name, Smokey jumped backwards in absolute astonishment and the volume of his voice increased to the utmost level. To him, it was an incredible and unimaginable feeling to meet the famous, undisputed saviour of the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds in person. He felt like he's going to faint from total amazement and overwhelmed with the emotions he's undergoing at this moment. "NO WAY! Th-That's impossible! You-You're _THE_ Spyro?"

Spyro purely nodded in response to his colleague's amazed but euphoric reaction, he forced a toothy, draconic smile to make himself feel better and trying to express his happiness but to no avail as he felt a ticklish, irritating sensation in his lungs. Just as he expected, an uninterrupted, unrelenting sequence of hacking coughs and dry coughs were expelled from his reptilian lips, he covered his mouth with his front, left claw to stop any repulsive germs and bacteria from spreading and infecting any unsuspecting victims close by. After a bout of coughing, he took a deep breath and then exhaled in mere seconds before clearing his throat to relieve himself.

Since Smokey was slightly sidetracked and left awestruck due to personally meet the hero he always admired, he barely noticed Spyro feeling under the weather and still stricken with an terrible cold.

To make sure he wasn't dreaming, Smokey's voice once again elevated to the highest volume while he smiled a toothy, draconic grin in a fanatical manner. His question nearly sounded like an angry outburst or as if he's truly shouting at the top of his lungs and his eyes lit up with excitement and eagerness. "The same Spyro who kicked Gnasty Gnorc's big, fat, ugly butt and single-handedly saved all the worlds of the Dragon Realms?"

Spyro nodded for the second time to his workmate's question that nearly sounded like an outburst, the way the overexcited, grey-scaled dragon shouted out his sentence. "Yep, the one and the same. Well… not exactly single-handedly, Sparx helped me too. He helped me through a lot of tough situations and he protects me whenever the enemies attack me, taking the hits for me and changing colours. We're the best of friends and we've been like that since our childhood."

"How come he's not with you this time?"

"He's—" When Spyro was just going to answer his co-worker's curious question, he felt something is tickling his teeny nostrils uncomfortably and had the urge to sneeze. He delicately moved a claw over his nose, drew back his head and expelled air suddenly, involuntarily and noisily at the same time as he thrust his head forward, a burst of scorching, searing fire and a great deal of perfectly revolting snot were sent forward from his snout. "AH-CHOOOOOOOO!"

"_Gesundheit_." Smokey mumbled, taken aback from the unexpected, blaring sneeze and cautiously shifting his eyes in Spyro's direction. Now noticing the excess of water overflowing in Spyro's eyes as if he's actually crying and his red nose that was leaking fluid like a mountain stream after a big thunderstorm, Smokey couldn't help but fret over his poorly workmate. Then, the youthful, grey-coloured dragon promptly pushed a hankie into the hero's front, right claw. "Uh… you're not sick, are you?"

Spyro feebly shook his head to his colleague's question, he mouthed a "thank you" before he graciously received the paper handkerchief and blew his nose violently. "It's just a little cold, I'll be all right. Don't worry about me." He weakly smiled at a worried Smokey, who was still shocked and traumatized from the sudden expulsion. "It's not a big deal to fret over me about." This was followed by a hacking cough that doubled him over and caused him to stumble towards the short, grey-scaled boy of a dragon. Luckily, he managed to hold on to the cold-stricken, purple protagonist with one of his claws, in order to prevent his fellow worker from collapsing to the sand.

In all his life, Smokey had never witnessed a celebrity saviour like Spyro going down with a mild sickness. Becoming ill with a cold or the flu is one thing but nearly falling down to the sand after a nasty hacking cough is another. "Geez… I've never seen a celebrity hero like you getting sick before."

Still feeling weak in the knees, Spyro gazed at his traumatized, fretful workmate with sickly, half-opened eyes in a non-drowsy mood, a few rasping wheezes were forced out of his reptilian gullet before he had the chance to exchange a few words. "Everyone gets sick sometimes, even heroes."

"First time for everything, huh?"

"No, my—" Spyro stopped in mid-sentence when another hacking cough abruptly eject from his mouth; it was even louder and rougher than his previous cough. He made a small amount of harsh, hacking sounds and he cleared his throat, in an attempt to relieve himself. "My immune system is strong so I rarely catch colds, I'm really not used to something like this."

"And here I thought you can handle everything." Smokey quickly sat down on the uneven, yellow-tan coloured sand and crossed his arms (or rather his front legs), he rolled his eyes in a sarcastic fashion. _For a hero who can take on anything in any world, he's really pathetic in handling a simple illness. _

"I'm not immune to everything, y'know."

"I suppose that's true but shouldn't you stay in bed? I don't understand why you're here if you're not feeling like yourself."

During Smokey's remark, an uncontrollable fit of hacking coughs escaped Spyro's reptilian lips without warning as he covered them with one of his claws as he was coughing harder and at an alarmingly fast pace. Each cough was getting noisier and horribly by the minute. They were so strident, they rendered the teenage, grey dragon's comment inaudible and unheard as if he's muffling his words.

"Spyro! Are you okay?" Smokey shouted in alarm, the volume in his voice increased to its highest as his eyes grew huge at the sight of his colleague suffering from a coughing fit. He quickly rushed to the cold-stricken hero's aid and stood by his side, rubbing his back up and down continually to calm down and console him. "Take it easy, Spyro, just take it easy."

All Smokey could do was to watch Spyro constantly coughing for more minutes on end. To calm his hacking coughs, he sat down on the sand before withdrawing a transparent bottle of refreshing, crystal clear water from his purple bag, turning the circular lid clockwise and took a sip. He felt the cool, thirst-quenching liquid making its way down his lungs until it reached his stomach before he sighed deeply, relieved from his bout of coughs.

Everything fell silent, except for the occasional one or two mucus coughs that were expelled abruptly and noisily from Spyro's fiery lungs; they weren't as deafeningly as his previous coughs. He had recovered from his coughing fit while Smokey managed to keep his posture after feeling a bit shaken from the persistent hacking coughs blaring unbearably through his unseen ears. They avoided eye contact for five minutes right until he opened his mouth to break the awkward silence between the teenage dragons.

After that disconcerting experience, this was all Smokey could come out with in utter dismay, he wasn't used to seeing his purple-scaled workmate suffering from a bout of consecutive coughs and this was all new to him. "Whoa! What was that all about earlier? You were coughing like crazy!"

Still feeling dehydrated; Spyro took another swig from his translucent water bottle, placed the spherical lid back on, twisted it counter clockwise to close the bottle firmly and slipped it into his bag. Due to having opposable thumbs, he sometimes has trouble with opening, closing and holding his bottle every time he needs a drink. "It's just a coughing fit, Smokey. I'm assuming whenever I get sick, it sometimes happens after my sleep, when I'm talking too much or laughing a lot." He sickly frowned as he explained to his colleague what he's going through when it comes to becoming ill with a cold.

_I guess it makes sense why he's coughing like that; he's been chatting to me a lot._ Smokey thought to himself, numerous reminiscences of Spyrosuffering from an unmanageable fit of hacking coughs flowed into his mind as he imagined them clearly and each of those recollections were played one by one like a slideshow. He gritted his white, sharp teeth, grimacing from previously letting those disconcert, unsettling coughs ringing in his unnoticeable ears before putting them out of his mind as he managed to speak again. "…Does it happen all the time?"

A chain of rough, hacking sounds erupted from Spyro's fiery lungs as he moved a clenched claw to his reptilian lips and cleared his throat before he replied to his concerned colleague. "Nope. When I'm not sick, I don't suffer from coughing fits and sneezing fits. Actually, I don't know if I get sneezing fits." He continued to explain to him about his coughing fits and a probable sneezing fit.

"You really ought to see a doctor. You don't sound so good, let alone feel so good."

"Smokey, I'm fourteen years old. I'm fine; I don't need to see a doctor. I'm capable of looking after myself." Spyro assured, trying to reassure his workmate in an attempt to set his mind at rest whilst the cold-stricken purple dragon's voice was a bit croaky as he spoke through his blocked nose and he faintly smiled.

"Yeah, right." Smokey wasn't convinced, he rolled his eyes sarcastically and not believing his newfound friend was going to be okay without visiting a doctor. His expression instantly changed to an unsmiling face while he talked some sense into the fourteen-year-old, dragon hero. "The way I see it, you're going to suffer from a lot more than coughing and sneezing if you don't take a trip to the doctor's soon."

Still feeling confident that he'll be all right despite his mild sickness, Spyro reluctantly gave in as he exhaled noisily in an unwilling manner and grumble inaudibly under his breath. Whether he likes it or not, he has no choice to pay a quick visit to the doctor's later on. "Fine. But can it wait 'til my shift is over?"

"Sure! Besides, I'm tellin' you this for your own good. An apple a day, keeps the doctor away."

"Whatever." Spyro muttered, dismissing the helpful phrase from his co-worker and not caring one bit. He lightened up to a little extent but his expression changed from an unenthusiastic one to a stern, serious face, getting to the matter at hand. If everyone in the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds realised he's one of the new lifeguards of Dragon Shores and his minor illness, he'll never live this down and his secrets are exposed. "Promise me to not blab this and don't spout stuff about me being a lifeguard to the citizens of the Dragon Realms, okay? I want to keep this a secret and I don't want them to take this news seriously or freak out if they find out I'm ill."

When it comes to keeping secrets, Smokey was the right dragon to trust and put a large quantity of faith into. He knew the consequences might be serious and unruly if he blabbed the secrets to each civilian in the three worlds, the consequences are just as horrific as letting his cold-stricken chum down or being disloyal to him. "Your secret's safe with me, Spyro. Don't worry your little scaly head about it, I won't tell a soul about it." He lightly placed a paw on one of his mate's wings as his lips curled up into a reassuring and uplifting smile on his reptilian face.

"Thanks, I feel a little bit better already."

"Don't mention it, that's what lifeguards do. We help each other out when one of us is feelin' down or if there's somethin' wrong on the beach." Smokey grinned, his smile extended from the left corner of his lips to the right corner. He all of a sudden had a curiosity of why his colleague is taking up a job as a part-time lifeguard in the first place, trying his best to dig deeper to find the answers. "So… you're being a lifeguard just to hide from prying eyes, the paparazzi and the media?" He never saw the famed purple dragon's point of view so obviously; he had no idea that there are downsides to being famous and attracting attention. "I thought you love bein' famous and bein' in the public eye." His voice lowered down the instant his words left his mouth as he showed displeasure in his scaly, grey-tinted face.

A series of hacking coughs were inconveniently let out from Spyro's maw, just before he had a chance to reply. He squeezed his eyes shut and covered his mouth with his front, left claw, his coughs made loud and rough sounds simultaneously. Whenever he coughs, his lungs hurts so much from how bad his hacking coughs are. After a five seconds bout of hacking coughs, he opened his eyes, removed his claw from his small jaws, and cleared his throat before giving a lengthy reason. "I enjoy defending the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds on a daily basis, rescuing and saving the residents and being in the limelight but I sometimes miss just being normal, not having to worry about any villain wrecking havoc and causing mayhem in the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds and tons of heroic responsibilities weighing on my wings. Ever since I whupped Gnasty's heinie, the interviewers were constantly asking me questions and I hardly had some privacy."

Deciding to switch the subject and move on with his conversation with the cold-stricken protagonist, Smokey somehow pulled out a rectangular-shaped autograph book out of nowhere that was in a paler shade of grey in contrast to the colour of his scaly skin and the book was full of white, blank paper and a pen that was in a similar colour. "Since you're still here, can I have your autograph?"

"Sure. I don't see any harm in doing it, anyway." Spyro shrugged, he received the autograph book in his left claw and the pen in the other while he responded in a good-natured tone and smiled a toothy draconic grin at him, he was a teensy bit cheered up from his mild ailment. He flipped the book open to the first page in a laid-back manner and he calmly signed his name in his own handwriting, his writing was printed on the flimsy surface of the paper. He finally finished doing his signature in the neatest he could in mere seconds and handed the book as well as the pen back to his overjoyed, ecstatic colleague. "Here ya go."

Utterly over the moon and thrilled to bits after his autograph book and pen returned to him and had been given an autograph by Spyro, Smokey cuddled them to his chest with his wings, his right wing was on top of his left one as he jumped up and down in delight like a jumping bean. "Thanks, Spyro. Awesome! This will go nicely in my room and I'll treasure it for years to come!"

Spyro sighed while his eyes were following his over excited workmate's every move, constantly looking up and down whilst he bounced endlessly. Given that the purple dragon is practically almost present on the seashore each week, he didn't think seeing a celeb such as him in the flesh is a big deal. "Chill out, Smokey. It's not like it's a once in a lifetime opportunity to see me. I'm always here every week on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, remember?"

After what seemed like a few seconds has passed, the grey-coloured, winged teenager decreased his hopping to a minimum the instant he heard those words from the unenthusiastic, fourteen-year-old saviour until the moment he completely stopped. "Unless you couldn't make it to work 'cause of your cold."

"I'm sure Dragon Shores can survive without me if I'm taking any days off 'cause of my sickness but the rest of the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds… not so much. If the residents can take care of themselves, I bet they can live on with or without me."

The chat between the teenaged dragons was disrupted when they turned to the sounds of adult-sized, heavy footsteps approaching. All they can make out was a tall, dragonesque silhouette drawing near them with every step he makes but he was too far away to look closer. It didn't take the instructor long to arrive at a certain spot in mere minutes and he stood there, facing his new recruits.

Looking up close, he appears to be in the same age group as Tomas and his height was identical to him but obviously, he was much older than the pubescent, winged reptiles. To his peers and his friends, he's known as Daniel and he was recognised for his occupation as a qualified instructor to coach lifeguards-in-training.

He's about the same height as the adult dragons and his scales are aqua. As for his underbelly, it's a glorious, dark green, the colour of the ocean itself and he has a wingspan the size of the beach. Speaking of his wings, they are aquamarine with webbing that is in an oceanic colour. His teeny talons are white that stand out against his underbelly, wide wings and scales. His eyes are light blue, which sort of matches with the other colours and his short, curly horns are in a marine-like colour. His tiny, turquoise spines began from the back of his cranium to the end of his water-like coloured, teardrop-shaped tip of his tail. Lastly, his eyebrows, snout, jaws, claws, arms and legs are equivalent sizes, heights and widths to Nestor. Just like Stanley and the other dragon elders, he was capable of standing erect on his hind feet. Due to his appearance, he was born in Dragon Shores and lived a bit further away from the seaside, its summery landscape and its tropical climate.

"Hmm… only you lads? I reckon there should be more employees but I suppose that's a start. The name's Daniel and I am your trainer, teaching you the ways of being a qualified lifeguard." He didn't waste any time but to introduce himself to his inexperienced trainees after taking a dim view of the number of employees, making a comment about this matter. Telling by his draconic, toothy grin, it was a pleasure for him to meet new faces on the first day. "So, you are…?" He asked the nearest dragon teen in an encouraging and inquiring voice to say his name.

"My name is Smokey, I'm thirteen years old." Smokey greeted, introducing himself to his coach as he beamed in the nicest wide smile he can do. _Geez… he's a lot nicer than our boss._ It was the only thing that crossed his mind right now; he had a feeling that the instructor is much kinder and open-minded in comparison to his stern and unsympathetic boss.

"The age doesn't matter when it comes to an occupation like this, as long as you're appropriate for the job." When Daniel's eyes fell on Spyro, his tone of voice instantly changed from an instructive tone to a friendly, receptive timbre, recognising the teenage, purple-eyed fire-breather as the well-known hero of the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds. "Ahhhh… so we have a celebrity here, gracing us with his presence."

"He's referring to you." Smokey took the liberty of leaning over and whispering softly in Spyro's direction, after hearing their instructor's sociable, open-minded comment.

Agreeing with his colleague's remark, Spyro simply nodded in spite of his hidden ears are blocked-up, hinting that they were infected due to one of the symptoms of his bad cold. He partly listened to his workmate's words but managed to hear them exactly whilst he spoke softly back. "I know. It's like as if everyone in the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds recognises me before they even ask me who I am."

"Almost everyone, don't you mean? Our employer hardly knows who you are."

Overseeing the discussion between his trainees, Daniel had the liberty to interrupt their conversation. Sure, it's pleasurable to see them getting along but it will distract them from their rigorous training sessions and the induction. With an amused smirk slowly visible across his reptilian lips and cocking an eyebrow at them, he crossed his arms whilst tapping impatiently on the sand with one hefty foot and pretending to lose his patience. "I see you two enjoy each other's company. Do I have to separate you boys?"

"No, sir." Spyro and Smokey concurrently said, immediately shaking their heads at a fast pace. They thought they were getting into deep trouble for discussing in the middle of the orientation as soon as they heard those words escape from their instructor's reasonably enormous jaws.

"However, I'm glad you two are getting along and are getting to know each other 'cause you need to when it comes to working as a team."

Right at this minute, the dragon teens exchanged a glance in a perplexed fashion. They were completely at a loss, never realising cooperation was crucial and one of the key factors of their soon-to-be job. Spyro raised an eyebrow with a 'Since when do we need teamwork?' kind of face at Smokey, who shrugged his front paws with a 'How the heck should I know?' type of expression.

"For some tasks, teamwork is required in order to keep the peace on the beach and to make sure everyone is all right." Daniel continued his lecture concerning teamwork and cooperation. Draped over his shoulders are beach bags that are perfect for his trainees' sizes, one bag over each shoulder. Both bags were crammed with equipment but not all of them. After he finished his sentence, he carefully slipped a bag over Spyro's head and another over Smokey's scaly skull. "Which is why you'll need these walkie talkies to keep in touch if trouble arises or if you notice anything suspicious."

To save the new recruits some time, he hurriedly pushed a black walkie talkie in the purple-scaled, fire-breathing juvenile's second bag which was chock full of equipment and shoved another one in the thirteen year old, grey-skinned teen's other bag of lifeguard apparatus so he can resume his lecture.

"Since you defend the Dragon Realms and help the inhabitants on a daily basis, I'm positive you'll be a natural at being a lifeguard, right Spyro?" He keenly enquired; a draconic, toothy grin was noticeable across his lips extending from the left corner to the right corner. He asked the 14 year old, purple fire-breather just to be sure he was right about the hero's experiences as the protector of the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds will be essential for the job and the training sessions.

"AH-CHOO!" Spyro threw back his head and lunge it forward, forcing air coming out from his snout, followed by a gush of smouldering, blazing flames and snot as he covered his nose with a handkerchief and reducing it to a pile of smouldering ash, in the process. "Yeah. That's great and all but I don't have the experience of being a lifeguard."

"So much for using a tissue." Smokey moved the right corner of his lips, muttering his short sentence wordlessly as he witnessed the paper handkerchief being barbecued to a mound of black cinders.

The instructor grimaced and cringed, in reaction to Spyro's startling sneeze. The sneeze almost thrown the coach off balance and he wasn't expecting an abrupt expulsion coming from any of the new recruits, especially from the adolescent, golden-horned, purple-scaled dragon. "Bless you, Spyro. That's why I'm here to instruct both of you and provide you boys some training, tips and advice."

"Before we begin our training session, your equipment, a well stocked first aid kit rescue aids, a manual about being a lifeguard, rulebook, megaphone, surfboard, binoculars and whistle are essential so have them with you at all times. Most importantly, you each wear a swimsuit to represent yourselves as highly-trained lifeguards and our team." Daniel carried on rambling on about what his trainees need to make use of in their occupations as part-time lifeguards and how to prepare themselves when the goings get tough. "And I almost forgot, the rest of the equipment are located inside this watch tower which you will both be sharing." He indicated a 3-dimensional, rectangular-shaped watch tower located on the right side of the lifeguard chair and a surfboard with a single talon. "Your surfboard is lying by the chair over there, Spyro. As for yours Smokey, I will find it right away."

Without saying another word, he departed from the very spot he was standing at, allowing the reptilian, winged teens to exchange innumerable words once again like a pair of friends and colleagues. There's no doubt about it that he'll no longer be in their line of vision for the time being and take his sweet time to return to his boys.

A couple of metres away was Spyro's surfboard, lying against the left side of the white lifeguard chair in a slanted position that he and Smokey will be sharing during their shifts. The chair was basically the right size for either of them to sit on it, being on the lookout and overlooking the seaside, the sea and making sure everything is all right. The surfboard is red, due to the fact lifeguards wear red all the time, a fiery design of red, orange and yellow flames was shown at the bottom and the back was purple, in a shade similar to Spyro's scales.

"…Wow." It was all he could say while he set his sights on his surfboard in the distance, it was made for him to use in his part-time job and training sessions. "There is no way I'm using that, I don't have what it takes to ride the waves." He frowned, refusing to believe that he'll be able to master a new extreme sport by the time he's done with the intensive training. A skateboarder and snowboarder he may be, but a surfboarder… he's not. _I'm sure surfing isn't all that bad; it's just like skateboarding and snowboarding in the Forgotten Worlds… right? _He thought to himself, vaguely remembering his days in the Forgotten Worlds. "I'm a fighter, not a surfboarder." He bluntly uttered those words; this kind of phrase was the first thing that came to his mind.

"Says the protector who kicks bad guy booty most of his life." Smokey remarked half-jokingly, he crossed his front legs (or his arms) and raised a grey, scaly eyebrow at the poorly, purple protagonist quizzically. "Shouldn't you be the one who's determined to take on anything the world throws at you?" From the tales he listened to from his peers and the residents, he always assumed Spyro is this almighty hero who faces any complicated challenges or tricky tasks head-on and stand up to any villain who dares to mess with him or lay waste to the Dragon Realms, Avalar or the Forgotten Worlds.

Spyro opened his mouth to speak as if he was about to retort but not a single word fell out of his reptilian lips. He instantly closed his maw before he actually spoke. "C'mon, let's get change into our swimsuits before our trainer comes back."

* * *

After a small number of hours have passed, the pair of soon-to-be lifeguards returned to the warmth of the beach. The only thing that's different about the adolescent, winged dragons is what they are wearing. The stifling, airless heat wave and the high temperature remained the same at Dragon Shores. Then again, the weather and the temperature differ during the night compared to how it was now in the daytime. Spyro already explained this to Macy in the amusement park in the midst of their roller coaster ride after the seemingly defeat of the Sorceress, a couple of years ago.

Spyro wore a red, waterproof swimsuit that conceals his purple scales and light yellow underbelly and a whistle that was suspended from a purple string tied around his neck. A pair of sunspecs is over his eyes to make him look cool and to sort of hide him from the public, the media, the interviewers (especially Bob) and the paparazzi.

On the other hand, Smokey was fully clad in a water-resistant swimming suit that was in a similar shade of red to his co-worker's beachwear and a silver whistle that was dangling from a dark grey piece of fabric and it is fastened around his neck. Unlike his cold-stricken colleague, he didn't bring a pair of dark glasses with him. He might require them to shield his eyes from the sweltering, scorching sunbeams but not to conceal himself from the population, the press, the media, the interviewers and the paparazzi.

"This swimsuit makes me look weird." Spyro was the first one to complain about his watertight swimsuit before his fellow worker could grumble about his own.

"That's 'cause we never wear clothes. I think we put on swimming suits to represent ourselves as lifeguards." Smokey stated, in a matter-of-fact kind of tone. He already knew the answer to why the purple-scaled, teenage dragon felt awkward with wearing a piece of clothing; because of the fact dragons hardly wear clothes. Noticing that his new friend has gotten quiet, he spoke up to break the sudden silence. "Somethin' on your mind, Spyro?"

Spyro's thoughts were interrupted like a daydream being disrupted; he shook his scaly, little head to get himself back into reality before turning his attention to his colleague. As far as he's concerned, his friends, allies and enemies will be having a hard time of recognising him due to sporting a red swimsuit and a pair of sunglasses over his eyes. They'll probably mistake him for a normal, typical lifeguard being on duty. "Erm… I'm just wondering if my friends will recognise me."

"I'm guessin' it will be hard for them to recognise you 'cause—" Smokey immediately stopped in full flow of his sentence when he caught a glimpse of a pair of sunglasses that were positioned over the purple-scaled, golden-horned juvenile's eyes. His face wore an expression of awe and amazement; he opened his mouth very wide and his eyes suddenly bulge out, they were large as chinaware dishes. He didn't spot the tinted lenses earlier since he was too caught up in his conversation. "Whoa! Where'd you get those shades from?"

Spyro pushed his sunglasses downwards so that they rested on his snout and are underneath his eyes. "I had these since my second interview with Bob and the interviewers after I recovered all the dragon eggs, rescued each imprisoned dragon and collected every gem in the Dragon Realms. From what I recalled, the interview was in Dark Hallow during the night." As he finished his sentence, he pulled his sunglasses over his eyes to protect them from the unforgiving, boiling rays of the sun.

He then proceeded to let out a series of raucous hacking coughs from his reptilian lips; he covered his mouth with his right claw to prevent any disgusting germs from spreading. His coughs are small and frequent, usually short and dry. They are also broken coughs with rough and loud sounds. After a short period of harsh, hacking coughs, he removed his claw from his miniature maw and gently placed it down on the sandy surface beneath his feet.

"Besides, they are unaware that our celeb hero is gonna be one of the newest lifeguards of Dragon Shores and…" Smokey grinned, starting off his sentence after carrying on from where he left off from his conversation with the undeniable protector of the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds.

"…And the fact that I'm sick with a dreadful cold." Spyro swiftly finished Smokey's sentence before he moved a clenched claw to his scaly lips and a few mucus coughs were let out from his miniature mouth after an uncomfortable sensation was tickling his throat and it was getting on his nerves.

"Um… not the words I was goin' for but yeah… the correct words to say about how you're feelin' right now."

Their chat instantly ended when they heard heavy, hefty footsteps approaching and the sounds from beneath his gigantic paws were getting louder by the minute. It turns out that Daniel was drawing near his trainees, carrying some sort of odd shape in his left arm that appears to be another surfboard. Since it's kind of heavy, it took him quite a while to reach the young dragons. As he made his journey, a long trail of large claw prints or paw prints were left in the soft, sandy sand. It was so soft they actually stayed there unless the freezing, chilly waves lap farther up the sand or coming in from the incredibly frozen ocean. His travelling draws to a close when he stopped at his destination where his apprentices were waiting for him. He was on the opposite side of them before conversing once more.

"Here's your surfboard, Smokey. I'm sorry for keeping you boys waiting, I hope you two aren't bored with standing there and doing nothing." He flashed a pleasurable, sociable smile as if he's about to burst out laughing or into a chain of chuckles mostly in Smokey's direction since he turned his attention to him before carefully setting the surfboard next to him in a upright position as well as chatting with him and poorly, purple-scaled protector of the three worlds.

Smokey's surfboard appearance is different, compared to the young, purple dragon's surfboard. What they have in common is that they are both have the same colour at the front since lifeguards have a tendency of wearing red and at the back, it's in a similar tint of grey to his scales. The design is in a form of a dark grey smoke that almost concealed the background entirely. The smoke started from the bottom of the board and curled its way upward in numerous, elaborate coils and wormed its way to the top. The motif is just there to represent his personality, traits and characteristics.

"Er… no!" Smokey hastily exclaimed, he speedily shook his head to his trainer's comment as if he actually did something wrong or something to offend him. "We're gettin' to know each other more."

"Ahhhh… now that's good to hear. The key to teamwork and cooperation is friendship. Without that bond, you two won't get far in this occupation."

Before Daniel could continue with his speaking and his lectures, another round of strident, hacking coughs ensued as each cough sounded louder and worse by the second as Spyro covered his small jaws with one of his claws and coughed harder. His coughs made loud and rough sounds simultaneously. With every cough expelled from his lips, they brought a sequence of shivers and nerve-racking chills to Smokey's and the instructor's spines, due to how disturbing the coughs sound.

_Our celebrity hero getting sick? I thought I'd never see the day! Hmm… this is very worrying. _Daniel was lost in his own thoughts as he witnessed Spyro in so much pain from his persistent hacking coughs. He never saw the purple protagonist falling ill before so this was very new to him. In his point of view, Spyro rarely succumbs to a cold or the flu seeing as his immune system is strong and well protected so the trainer is not used to seeing something like this. "I hope you're not coming down with something, Spyro." He tried his best to speak over the cold-stricken hero's constant coughing but it wasn't easy due to how noisy they are. "Because I don't want to catch the same thing you've got."

Before he answered his instructor, only two hacking coughs left Spyro's reptilian lips as he covered his mouth with one of his claws. Compared to how hard he coughed earlier, the two hacking coughs weren't as loud as they were several seconds ago. "No, I'm fine. I can take care of myself." He assured his instructor, as he spoke even his own words convinced himself that he's feeling okay. _So much for keeping my secrets a secret. Great, just great, now my trainer knows that I'm sick. _He sighed disappointingly; sooner or later every citizen in the three worlds will know that he has fallen ill.

"Are you sure? If you're really feeling unwell, you can always go home and rest." Daniel advised, his voice was filled with worry and he felt a lot of sympathy towards the poorly, purple protagonist. "Smokey will be your understudy… or rather your substitute, he'll temporarily replace you until you've recovered from your illness." He went on with explaining what will happen during the cold-stricken hero's absence, knowing that going home is one of the best ways to recover and rest. "I'll speak with our employer concerning your sickness and our situation."

Suddenly recollecting the lectures relating to cooperation and friendship, the grey-skinned, thirteen year old dragon instantly gotten panicky and became fretful, hating the idea of being on duty by himself and guarding the beach. The more work and tasks that are given to him, the more pressure will be put on him. If Spyro was on sick leave, it will be problematic to keep up with the duties on hand. "Wait a sec! When you mentioned some stuff about companionship and teamwork, how am I gonna look after the beach without Spyro?"

"Sadly, as a result of the less amount of employees, I hate to say that you'll have no choice but to watch over Dragon Shores without your colleague as well as being responsible for everybody's safety and tending to their needs."

Upon hearing this from his lifeguard coach, the littlest, purple dragon drape one of his undersized wings around his workmate's pint-sized body as his way to comfort him and causing him to briefly look into his eyes. "You don't need to worry, I'll stay put and we'll help each other out."

However, Smokey disagreed with his pigheaded chum's decision, his tone of voice now became stern while he attempted to talk some sense into him in order to change his mind. He walked away from the cosiness of the golden-horned, purple-scaled fire-breather's wing until he stood on the opposite side of him, face-to-face. "Okay, now, you're bein' stubborn. You're in no condition to work, much less stay on the seashore. Your cold will worsen, the more you hang around here."

In spite of reasoning with the dragon hero, Spyro refused to head back home to get plenty of bed rest no matter how unpleasant the consequences may be if he didn't. He tried to raise his voice without straining it and he glowered in Smokey's direction, who glared heatedly right back at him. "I've been through way worse things than a little cold, I think I can cope with it."

The two teenage dragons were giving a hostile look at each other as if they were having a staring contest and they weren't blinking their eyes for minutes without end. Before the squabble could escalate and spiral out of control, Daniel stepped in the middle of them and stretched his arms outwards as his method of attempting to separate them for a while.

"Now, now, boys. Let's not argue. This is not team spirit." He firmly glanced at the disagreeing dragons as he shook his head in displeasure, reminding them about one of the important factors of being a part-time lifeguard and arguing is a major no-no when it comes to this occupation. Once he shifted his attention to Spyro, he heaved a sigh before lowering his voice as he narrowed his eyes at the words, "_But I'm warning you; you may catch something more horrible than a cold if you don't reconsider._", giving him some words of warning. "I guess I can't stop you but if you want to stay on the beach, by all means. But I'm warning you; you may catch something more horrible than a cold if you don't reconsider. I'll give you some time to think this over, Spyro. In the meantime, let's begin our training session." His voice instantaneously returned to normal at his last two sentences after he "threatened" him if he doesn't heed the dangers. It's not really a danger to the extreme but his cold will take a turn for the worse if he doesn't go on sick leave.

Spyro gulped uneasily. Not only the warning was daunting him, he still has his nasty cold to deal with which will make things harder for him during training sessions and in the upcoming days, rendering him immobilized and weak. To top it all off, coughing harder, sneezing frequently and suffering from coughing fits isn't going to get his cold any better but he decided to shrug off the coach's advice. He and his newfound chum and colleague are surely in for perhaps the gruelling challenge of their lives.

* * *

Unfortunately, I had to end the chapter there 'cause it's getting even longer than I expected and I don't want all of you readers and reviewers to wait so long. If you're wondering who the heck Bob is or you can't remember who he was, he's the interviewer who interviewed Spyro and a couple of dragons in the cutscenes from _Spyro the Dragon_. The hardest part of writing this chapter is trying to come up with the names of the original characters and how they look like.

The employer is very strict towards Spyro, isn't he? That's 'cause he doesn't like employees arriving at Dragon Shores very late and missing one-to-one interviews. Heck, he's the only one in the Dragon Realms who doesn't know who Spyro is and he's unaware of his heroic deeds. By the way, if you notice, Spyro had a short argument with Smokey in this chapter and that happened before in the second chapter with Sparx. Déjà vu, anybody? When will he learn that stubbornness won't get him anywhere?

I'm recently playing _Mario Sports Mix _(it's terrific for exercise as in moving the Wii remote and my arms about) on my Wii and one of the four sports that are available to play will be helpful to write the later chapters, it depends on who's writing which chapter. The sport I'm talking about is volleyball and besides basketball, it's the most enjoyable. Hockey is all right but I hate dodgeball. Not only does it remind me of my high school days, I'm also not very good at this sport yet. I've gotten really far in this game and I already obtained three cups in normal mode in basketball and volleyball. Currently, I'm just unlocking new stuff such as arenas, places and characters and new routes in the tournaments I've already completed.

Anyway, when I watched the official music video of "_I'll Be Ready_" by Sunblock, there's more than one female lifeguard on duty at the beach that means teamwork is definitely one of the things that is important in a job like this. Anyway, review away and please no flames. For the meantime, I'll get started on the long-awaited sixteenth chapter of "_Spyro & Jake Long: Ripto's Revenge_" while **Topaz16** will work on the fourth chapter of our collaboration.


	4. Tedious Training

I do not own any part of the Spyro franchise whatsoever. This includes all the original characters, worlds/levels, etc. Smokey, Stanley, and Daniel are **Flowerstar's **original characters and rightfully belong to her. Macy is my original character and she belongs to me. I also do not own the song "_I Walk Alone_" which is rightfully owned by Tarja Turunen.

Hello, **Topaz16** here!

First off, I'd like to give a big thank you to **Flowerstar**. For my birthday (which was back in December) she made me a video tribute called "_Died In Your Eyes – Macy x Bartholomew_". It was dedicated to the main couple of my fanfic, "_A Yeti's Love_"_._

Also, I'd like to give a big thanks to all our reviewers. I greatly appreciate everyone's reviews because I like to know that people actually took time to read our story (which **Flowerstar** and I have been working very hard on). I also like constructive criticism because I want to get better at writing. Hopefully all of you loyal viewers out there will continue to be patient and enjoy what's yet to come. I recently just got out of school so hopefully I'll be able to write more.

Here's the next chapter to Flowerstar and I's first ever collaboration together! Just a side note also, the things in italics are Spyro's thoughts, not things he says out loud.

* * *

**Chapter 4: Tedious Training**

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Daniel, Smokey and Spyro's instructor, asked the ill hero one more time.

Spyro rolled his eyes and complained, "How many times do I have to tell y-y-" His sentence was interrupted by what the dragon thought would be another coughing fit to add to all the other ones he already experienced. The purple reptilian's throat tickled as if someone were lightly moving a feather up and down against it. Even though he had the strongest urge to cough, Spyro just quickly cleared his throat and composed himself. He started over, "How many times do I have to tell you that I'll be fine. I'm sick of hearing this question." By now, Spyro sounded really aggravated but who could blame him?

"Spyro, we're only showing our concern for you," Smokey said worriedly while resting a claw on Spyro's purple, scaly shoulder reassuringly. He was sitting to the left side of Spyro on the warm, soft, smooth sand. Luckily the day wasn't too hot or else the two young dragons wouldn't be able to handle themselves in the heat, sitting on burning sand.

The fourteen year old dragon let out a sigh that ended up making him wheeze a little. "I'll be fine," Spyro's voice got raspy as he said that statement.

Smokey glanced at Daniel with a concerned look but Daniel just shrugged. _He could do whatever he wants to do. It's his choice if he wants to be so stubborn. Still, I can't help but feel worried for him…_ Daniel thought to himself.

There was an uncomfortable silence between the three male dragons. Daniel decided to clear it up and get back on topic with what really needed to be done. He was here to train two new employees to be responsible protectors of the beach, not to talk to the well-known hero about how he's feeling, especially when he's being stubborn. As the two younger dragons sat a close distance from Daniel just so they could hear him, he started to pace back and forth, indicating he was going to start his teachings. "Many think that being a lifeguard is an easy job. Many think that it's all about lounging around in a lifeguard chair lazily while working on their tan and flirting with the attractive-looking visitors."

He paused just enough for Spyro and Smokey to exchange confused glances. They never thought that being a lifeguard would be that easy but they never thought that it would be really difficult either. Spyro especially thought that it wouldn't be overbearingly difficult to watch over the beach because he has vacationed there before and watching a beach seemed to be a cinch compared to saving a whole realm, just as he had done multiple times.

The aqua, older dragon continued his lecture, "If you're one of those people who think that being a lifeguard is all about sitting around like bums and picking up females, then you're wrong." He narrowed his eyes at the two younger dragons. Even though they seemed like responsible young fellows, they were still young and inexperienced. Their immaturity could easily take over them at any point and it would be tragic to lose another creature due to drowning because one of the lifeguards wasn't doing his job. "I have already given you the equipment that you will need when you start your journey to defending the people on the shore." He was referring to the well stocked first aid kit rescue aids, manual about being a lifeguard, rulebook, megaphone, surfboard, binoculars and whistle. "Before I start teaching the two of you some drills, I'm going to go over the rules of Dragon Shores Beach and other things you'll need to know."

Spyro and Smokey nodded their heads at their coach and newfound acquaintance. The sick winged creature couldn't help but feel as if his brain were moving around, bumping his head while he shook it up and down. It hurt for him to move his head, causing sharp pains every time he did. He quickly clutched his forehead with one of his claws while faking a smile to make it seem like he was okay. Daniel just glared suspiciously at him.

"First of all, I know this is going to sound like common sense to both of you but you never know; only one person can sit in the lifeguard chair at a time. Don't invite your friends to sit up there with you. For one thing, you aren't even supposed to be with your friends while you're on duty unless one of them is in trouble. Also, the lifeguard chair is the perfect size for each one of you, meaning it will break if more than one person sits up there. You wouldn't want to have to pay for a new lifeguard chair or deal with Stanley's wrath, would you? That situation could easily be avoided by listening to that rule," Daniel explained. In the meantime, Spyro and Smokey had turned around to eye the white lifeguard chair that they would be sitting in once their training is completed.

Daniel then motioned for the two younger male dragons to follow him. Smokey enthusiastically followed close behind his trainer while Spyro trudged behind. He wondered how much time was going by because he felt like he was sitting there for hours listening to Daniel talk. The sad thing is, this is only the beginning of his training session and he has a long way to go.

The aqua instructor led the boys to the water and pointed to two green flags that were a few meters away from them. "Make sure swimmers swim between these two flags. It is dangerous to go beyond these points because they could crash into the nearby rocks and really get hurt. We wouldn't want any injuries," he warned. There were small areas of sharp, jagged rocks sticking up out of the water. Smokey winced at the thought of any unlucky swimmer ending up by the rocks. Spyro, on the other hand, was so shocked that he hadn't coughed in a little while that he couldn't even pay attention. His thoughts were focused on the fact that he might actually be getting better.

Daniel instructed, "When red flags are out and replace the green ones, swimming is prohibited. The red flags are put up when there are dangerous conditions in the water. If anyone is caught swimming when the red flags are up, get them out of the water _immediately_."

"Yes, sir," Smokey said.

Suddenly it hit Spyro as to why his coughing stopped; his sore throat took place of his once continual hacking coughs. Oh how he wished that he could just gargle the salt water that was right in front of him. It was a gross yet tempting offer that would help him get better. He figured he would wait until he got back home before doing anything like that. Right now, the purple reptilian protagonist had to pay close attention to his lesson.

Daniel went on to say, "Keep an eye on children at all times; their swimming isn't as good as the older people of this beach. The more inexperienced swimmers should stay in wading deep water in the vicinity of a lifeguard so that they could be watched at all times. Also, floatation devices don't substitute for swimming ability. If a small dragon with floaties tries to swim in the deeper part of the ocean, that doesn't make their swimming any better. Alert them to move back to shallower water by blowing your whistle and motioning for the swimmer to retreat back to shallower water."

Spyro didn't even want to think about blowing a whistle right now with his sore throat. Hopefully when he is on duty he'll be well enough to at least blow his whistle without getting dizzy or hurting his throat even more. He started having second thoughts as to whether he should take the day off tomorrow or just try to handle it. It was only for the afternoon; how bad could it be? Spyro shook off his bad thoughts, moving his purple dragonic head from side to side as to actually shake the thoughts out of his mind. That made the piercing pains in different spots of his head come back. _It's just a cold…it's just a cold…_he repeated over and over in his mind.

"Make sure people don't litter," Daniel stated. "There are plenty of garbage cans and recycling bins for people to throw their trash in. If they don't obey that rule then there will be a fine of 50 gems after the first time. If they do it again, the fine goes up to 150 gems. If they commit that offense a third time, then it's 300 gems. Most people get the point by the second time so you won't really have to worry about anything dealing with litterbugs." Daniel pointed to the bins by the snack hut and lifeguard chair as an example.

"Most of all make sure people listen to you. If you don't enforce the rules then no one will take you seriously. Kick people off the beach if you must in order to keep the peace and serenity," Daniel said sternly while staring at the young future lifeguards.

"Now we're going to learn about giving residents CPR in an emergency. I'll be right back with some dummies we will use for this process," Daniel said. With that, he headed toward the watch tower where there was other equipment for the lifeguards such as the dummies. This left Spyro and Smokey with some time to talk.

"Feeling any better?" Smokey asked even though he very well knew the answer.

"A little I guess," Spyro lied. He didn't feel better at all, as a matter of fact, he felt like he was getting worse by the second.

"Are you sure?" Smokey asked. "You don't look so good-" Smokey stopped talking when he took notice of the irritated purple dragon's icy glare. Spyro wasn't only tired of being sick but he was tired of being asked the same question over and over again.

"Smokey, I assure you that I'll be fine. It's just a little cold," he reassured his concerned friend.

"That doesn't mean I can't worry about you," Smokey pointed out.

Spyro was about to object but Daniel walked back over to the two future lifeguards and tossed a dummy at each of them. The CPR dummies were about the size of Daniel and they were in the shape of a dragon, since mostly dragons were the ones that came to Dragon Shores. They were made out of a soft, squeezable material that was perfect for pushing down on when practicing CPR.

"Aren't these a little…big?" Spyro asked, unsure about the size of the dummies.

"You never know who's going to drown in these waters," Daniel stated. Something about his words made chills go up Spyro and Smokey's spine. What if they had to save someone bigger than themselves? Could they handle carrying someone bigger than them to shore under a lot of pressure? Daniel cleared his throat when he noticed something was wrong. "Ok, let's start."

Daniel instructed, "First check the victim for unresponsiveness." He put a dummy that he had brought out for himself to show as a demonstration on the ground in front of him horizontally. "If the victim is still not breathing normally, coughing or moving, begin chest compressions. Pushdown in the center of the chest two inches thirty times. Pump hard and fast at the rate of at least 100 per minute, faster than once per second." He showed them what he meant, doing exactly what he said to do. Putting his claws on the dummy in front of him, he began to push down in the center of the material dragon's chest hard and fast. Then he turned to the two younger dragons when he was done showing them the demonstration. "Now it's your turn."

Smokey was off to a great start. He was able to do the chest compressions perfectly right at the rhythm their instructor expected. When the adult dragon turned to Spyro, he could see that the young hero was having some trouble. Sensing this feeling, Spyro didn't look up from the dummy and started to press down on its chest even harder. "Don't worry, I got this," he said while gritting his teeth. Right now he couldn't even concentrate. He just wanted to lie down. This blistering heat wasn't making anything better either.

"Here, watch me one more time," Daniel said to Spyro. He performed his demonstration one more time in the hopes that Spyro would get what to do.

Spyro nodded his head and did just as Daniel had done. "Very good, very good," Daniel said while nodding his head in satisfaction and folding his arms. "Now you're getting the hang of it."

Daniel went on to say, "Now tilt the head back and lift the chin. Pinch the nose and cover the mouth with yours and blow until you see the chest rise. Give two breaths. Each breath should take one second. Be careful not to accidently breathe fire into their mouth."

"Who would do something like that?" Smokey questioned while cocking an eyebrow and tilting his head.

Daniel shrugged and simply said, "Accidents happen." The two young, male dragons shuddered at the thought of making a wrong move. "I'll show you two the rest of the CPR process and then watch you two do this exercise." He started off from the beginning, checking if the "victim" was unresponsive. Then he started the chest compressions and then performing mouth-to-mouth following the compressions. "Now it's your turn."

Spyro and Smokey simultaneously started doing the CPR exercise that their lifeguard instructor, Daniel, taught them. _So far so good_, Spyro thought as he moved on from chest compressions to the mouth-to-mouth component. Luckily, he wouldn't be able to breathe fire on the "victim" because he was sick and couldn't breathe fire properly at the moment. Instead, when all seemed fine, a cough attack ruined his perfect show. "Now we wouldn't want you doing that to a drowning victim, now would we?" Daniel stated more than asked while putting his two claws on his hips.

"S-sorry," Spyro said while letting out another harsh cough.

Daniel said, "I think you two understand the point of CPR. If you have any questions, ask me now. If not, then we'll be practicing more later on anyways." The two dragons trainees stayed silent. "Well then, let's move on to our last lesson for today before doing some drills: surfing. Do any of you know how to surf?"

Smokey's eyes widened. He liked the idea of riding the waves and having the breeze in his face, feeling like he was practically walking on water. Spyro, on the other hand, was still uneasy about it. "No," Spyro answered flatly for the both of them.

"You don't sound so excited," Daniel said. Spyro just shrugged and Daniel continued on. "Since you'll be sharing a surfboard during your shifts, I'll just have each of you practice one at a time. Spyro, let's start with you since you seem so eager."

"Whoop-dee-do," Spyro mumbled under his breath sarcastically. He knew that his teacher was only poking fun at him but now was not the right time, not when he feels like the living dead.

Daniel handed the reptilian, fourteen year old hero the red surfboard. "First we will practice on the sand because I know you're not ready for the water yet," Daniel assured him. Spyro lay the board down in front of him so he could see the design of red, orange and yellow flames at the bottom. "When you get into the water, go out far enough so that the water is up to your chest," he explained to the young protagonist.

Spyro nodded and Daniel continued on, "When you get in far enough, you want to stop and feel the rhythm of the waves. When you feel like there's going to be a good wave, turn around to face the shoreline and start to paddle in. When the wave reaches you, it'll surge you forward so make sure to stay in control of the board or else people will be seeing the purple end of the board instead." Spyro and Smokey both remembered that the back end of the board was similar to the color of Spyro's scales.

Daniel kept on instructing without letting the males get a word in. "As you're moving forward, stop paddling and grab the sides of your board with your claws. Then you're going to do what is called the 'popup'. You will push yourself up, making sure your legs are straight, one in front of the other, with your toes pointing perpendicular to the centerline of the board. Right afterwards, you'll let go of the sides and stand in a stable crouch, putting your arms out to your sides so that you can keep balance. And there you have it, you're surfing! Did you two get all that?"

Smokey nodded, taking close note to everything that Daniel said, not letting the information go through one ear and right out the other. He was ready for this. Spyro's nerves were taking over his concentration though. Why did a little surfboard seem so intimidating? He's skated against Hunter plenty of times and even against the best team in the Forgotten Realms. This should be effortless for an old pro like him too bad he was only a beginner at surfing. "I'll show you guys a quick demonstration on the sand before making you guys replicate my movements," Daniel said.

He lies down vertically on the red board in front of him and started to paddle in the sand, making sure not to send scoops of hot sand into the young dragons' eyes. "This is how you do the paddle once you're deep enough in the water." His arms were moving in a constant pattern, almost as if it were timed movements. "Then when you feel the wave coming, do your popup like this." He jumped up on his board, almost in a pushup-like motion and held on to the sides of the board that Spyro would soon be doing the same thing on. "Make sure your legs and feet are in the right position or else you'll wipeout." He ever so slowly and carefully began to let go of the sides of the board, as if he were actually in the ocean and put his arms out to his sides. "Let go of the sides cautiously because one wrong move and you're done but you don't want to be too slow or else you'll miss the wave," he warned his pupils.

"What happens once you're surfing? How do you navigate?" Smokey asked, clearly interested in this sport.

Daniel chuckled and answered by saying, "That's up to you. I can't teach you everything. Some things you got to learn on your own. It really depends on the surfer and how they most feel comfortable." Then he turned to Spyro. "Your turn." He got off the board and motioned for Spyro to lie down on it just as he had done a few minutes ago.

Spyro gulped as he slowly crawled over to the surfboard. He was acting as if it were some sort of monster or as if the painted flames were going to come to life and burn him alive. Both his fellow peer and surfing instructor took note to this behavior. "It's okay, don't be shy!" Daniel reassured him. "Surfing is so easy that pretty soon you'll be doing tricks you didn't even know existed."

_Surfing, easy? Yeah right,_Spyro sighed. "Here I go…" Spyro said. He got on the board and started paddling through the sand. He felt like he was on a treadmill just paddling his way to nowhere land.

Daniel observed him closely and nodded his head in what seemed like a pleased expression. "Here comes the wave. What do you do?" he questioned his student.

Spyro grabbed the sides of the board and did his popup. It was a little sloppy (he wobbled a little even though he was on sand) but it would do for now. Then he slowly let go of the rails of the board and stretched his arms out to his sides as if he were walking on a tightrope.

"Good, now let's do that one more time before trying the real deal," Daniel said. "You're catching on quite fast for someone who's just learning and not feeling too well."

This compliment made Spyro feel a little bit better inside. Maybe his sickness would get him down but this little ego booster was enough to give him a small amount of energy and ease his tenseness. Spyro got back on the ground and started to paddle again, digging his claws into the sand and letting the small grains flow through the spaces between his fingers. Feeling more confident, he did his popup, this time a lot better than the last, and ended up landing the exercise perfectly.

Daniel and Smokey applauded the teenage, heroic dragon. "Great job, now let's see you do that in the water," Daniel said. He put his big claw over his forehead, shielding the sun from his eyes and stared out to the sea. "Look at those waves; they're beautiful. These are the perfect waves for a day like today."

Spyro's nerves started to creep up on him slowly again. "Don't you want Smokey to learn how to do it on the sand first before I try it out?" Spyro tried to get himself out of this situation. _What did I get myself into?_

Daniel shook his head in opposition. "It's better to do it now while it's fresh in your mind, my boy," he told Spyro.

"If you say so…" Spyro said unhappily. He carried his red surfboard with him to the edge of the shore and stopped for a moment, letting his paws feel the water. It was a relief from the unbearable hotness he was feeling earlier. Whether the ground was actually hot or not, Spyro could feel his temperature rising all day long. This illness wasn't getting any better for him. He was upset that there was even the slightest chance of it ruining his first day on the job. Hopefully he would be better by tomorrow.

He carried the board out to sea with him until he reached where he thought was a deep enough spot for him to stand. He stood there and felt the waves, as Daniel told him to do earlier. Once he felt a wave coming on, he got on his board and started to paddle in. The wave, unlike the sand, was pulling him back. He tried to use his judgment for when to grab the sides of the board and do the popup. He started to shake to the point where he thought he was going to wipeout. _Uh oh…_ Spyro thought. He shut his eyes tightly and attempted to stand on the board, putting his arms out in front of him.

The purple protagonist didn't even realize he was successfully surfing until Smokey started to whistle really loud and shouted, "Great job Spyro, woo hoo!" He did a thumbs up for Spyro and started clapping. Spyro heard his voice coming from shore and opened his eyes. He looked down and realized he was really doing it; he was surfing! For the first time all day, he felt a real smile creep across his face, a meaningful smile. He felt accomplished. Of course, another hacking cough attack had to come at the wrong time and ruin his "fifteen minutes of fame". This one was worse than the previous one though, or maybe it was the fact he was trying to keep himself from falling off of the board. He put his arm in front of his face, blocking his mouth as much as possible so as not to spread the germs. It wasn't enough to save him; he couldn't take the pressure anymore and wiped out.

In a moment's time, he washed up on the shore. Luckily he was responsive or else Smokey would've had to do the CPR procedure he learned earlier. "Spyro! Are you alright?" Smokey figured this was an appropriate time to ask him that question without his friend getting mad at him.

Spyro blinked rapidly to clear his vision and coughed out some water. "Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go-"

"No, Spyro; we've been here all afternoon. You're clearly too sick to do anything. You've had enough. Just go home and I'll teach you whatever I learn," Smokey said sternly and caringly while putting one of his claws out to stop him from getting up and going back in the water.

"I think both of you deserve a break. Good job, boys," Daniel complimented the two of them. Deep inside, he was worried for Spyro. "Smokey, we'll work on your surfing as soon as possible. Besides, it's getting late outside. You two better get home before people start to worry about you." The three of them looked at the painted sky. It was a mix of many shades of purple, pink, orange, and some yellows. There was half of a giant reddish-orangeish ball that was visible over the horizon. Stars were starting to appear in the soon-to-be night sky. It was a beautiful sight that the three of them could easily admire on a given day.

Smokey offered a hand to help Spyro up. Spyro accepted the offer while Daniel took the surfboard back to where it belonged. "Get some rest…okay?" Smokey asserted his newfound friend. "I'll see you later."

Daniel and Smokey left Spyro all alone on Dragon Shores Beach. Now it was just him and the sunset, or so he thought. He started to hear a chillingly familiar female voice singing somewhere in the midst of him. He couldn't see anyone to match the voice but the tune was one he definitely heard somewhere before. The words haunted him.

_I walk alone  
Every step I take  
I walk alone  
My winter storm  
Holding me awake  
It's never gone  
When I walk alone_

Seeing as this eerie feeling was getting worse and worse by the second, Spyro decided it was time to go home. He slowly trudged on back to the Artisans World, feeling less faith every second that he would eventually get better.

* * *

Sorry if this chapter seems shorter and not as interesting as the others. It was difficult writing about lifeguard training because (even after doing a lot of research) it seemed as there wasn't much to it other than enforcing rules, saving lives, and first aid. I hope you understand. I'm sorry for keeping you all waiting. Hopefully you'll enjoy what's in store for this story as things get worse for Spyro. And who do you think the mystery singer is? By the way, I got the instructions about how to surf and CPR off of websites that I give full credit to. I never knew how to do either of those hahaha.


	5. Faun in the Sun

The original _Spyro the Dragon_ series, Spyro, Elora, Hunter, Bianca, Bartholomew, Dragon Shores, Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds are properties of Insomniac Games or whichever company owns the franchise now. Macy is **Topaz16**'s original character and she belongs to her. Smokey is one of my original characters and he rightfully belongs to me, he is created exclusively for this collaboration.

Once again, it's me, Flowerstar, bringing you another chapter. I'd like to say thanks to **ChrisMSMB**, **Scarlet Embers**, **A Frog Called Stevie-Wonder** and **Evowizard25**, our reviewers so far for reading and reviewing the previous chapters. I'm sorry for the extremely long hiatus but there are many kinds of excuses why the rest of my fanfictions are on hold such as my main reasons, a month-vacation in Hong Kong, followed by a 5-day vacation in the capital of China, Beijing, where the Beijing 2008 Olympics is being held at and I've fallen ill with a medical condition or some sort of thyroid disease. Ever since I've gotten sick, the updates have gone sluggish lately. My thyroid gland was swollen since 24th March, when I still had a bad cold that lasted for 14 or 15 days but I never expected to get even sicker.

Who knows when I finally recover? It really sucks to be poorly for so long, trying to cope with the symptoms most of the days or every day is very annoying. I think surgery is the only way to get better, the doctor already seen the scan report and the x-ray pictures of my thyroid test from Hong Kong and now, I'm currently waiting for news from the doctor, the scan report to come through the post and his decision whether I should go through an operation or not. Also, I had to wait to find out the actual date for the other test. Luckily, my family and I don't need to pay for appointments, surgery and medical stuff. Then again, my country tends to do things at its own pace.

Anyway, the other excuses are due to my lack of motivation (which explains why I haven't updated my previous fanfictions for years, for instance, "_Crash Landing on the Mushroom Kingdom_"), being occupied with personal, confidential things, doing a song fanfiction for this story, "_I'll Stand By You_" and working on my video tribute to the good ol' Spyro from the original _Spyro the Dragon_ series, "_Spyromania (Extended Version)_".

To lighten up the mood, this is the chapter where Spyro's friends will finally make their appearance, including **Topaz16**'s original character, Macy, from the fanfiction, "_A Yeti's Love_" which takes place during _Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon_. I recommend you reading this story before reading and reviewing this collaboration. Also just giving a heads up, Stanley and Daniel will be absent from this chapter but they may show up in the later chapters. I'll try my best to get Macy and the rest of the characters in character in this chapter, just like I did for my previous fanfics.

So, let's continue on with the fanfiction with the fifth chapter of our collaboration.

* * *

**Chapter 5: Faun in the Sun**

After their gruelling and exhilarating training sessions are over at last and their instructor, Daniel, has taught them everything he knows, Spyro and Smokey were taking a little break in the lifeguard watchtower in the next day before heading out heading to start their part-time occupation for real and Dragon Shores is finally opened to the public. Ever since their first encounter with each other, they become fast friends and are like "brothers in arms", even though they aren't literally brothers and their friendship nearly rivals to Spyro's companionship with Sparx. Their friendship is strong, regardless of their bickering several hours ago.

Eager to begin the day off right away and looking forward to what kind of challenges and events await him, Smokey started off the chitchat with his cold-stricken colleague and newfound friend, who was completely in an opposite mood, due to his awful cold and the symptoms. So far, coping with them was like a downright, ghastly nightmare to him since he wasn't used to falling ill with any ailment. "So, are you ready for the first day of our job?" To prove that he's overexcited, the pubertal, grey-coloured dragon was grinning in the poorly, purple dragon's direction, bearing his razor-sharp, draconic teeth.

"Yeah… as long as my cold does—" Spyro stopped in mid sentence when a series of horridly, hacking coughs were inconveniently discharged from his fiery lungs while he moved a clenched claw to his miniature maw and coughed raucously, roughly and harshly, they were unpleasantly displeasing to the ear. They appeared to be loud coughs that sound painful. After his bout of hacking coughs, he cleared his throat and promptly composed himself. "… doesn't get any worse for me. They've gotten s—" Another harsh cough interrupted his sentence before he could say the rest as he coughed into his little, right claw. "They've gotten so worse to the point it's like I'm coughing up a lung."

Smokey cringed while gritting his sharp, draconic teeth from when the cold-stricken, purple protagonist described how he coughs. "Ewww… I'll pretend I didn't hear that from you but I've noticed your coughs are getting really worse. Are you sure you'll be feeling okay?"

"Sure I will." Spyro swiftly said before he sniffled, due to his blocked-up, stuffy nose and teeny nostrils. "You're lucky you're not in my—" For what seemed like the third time, his speech was cut short when a single dry cough was ejected from his reptilian lips as he coughed into his small, purple-scaled claw. His cough appeared to be a cough without expectoration. "…my position right now."

"If I were you, I'd have the common sense to head home and try to recover from my bad cold. It's the sensible thing to do if you've fallen ill."

"Don't start that again, Smokey. I'm not in the mood to start another argument wi—" Spyro shot an irritated, icy glare at his concerned colleague, fed up with hearing advices and his sympathetic suggestion. Just before he finished saying his words, an extremely loud, hacking cough abruptly erupted from the his oesophagus which are incredibly noisier than his previous coughs, it happened so quickly he didn't have a chance to cover his mouth. It was a loud cough that sounds painful. It was so disturbingly jarring, it went echoing and bouncing off the walls inside the lifeguard watchtower. "…with you." He clutched his neck in intensive pain since he coughed intensively harder. "Ow… my throat…!" He then laid a claw on his chest, grimacing from the immense amount of discomfort and soreness, due to the fact he coughed exceedingly noisy, yet disturbingly. "I'm going outside."

Avoiding eye contact and fed up with his colleague's advices, Spyro walked off in a huff, exiting through the doorway. Since it's stifling, airless and boiling inside the watchtower because of the temperature and the tropical heat wave, the door and the windows were already opened to let the cool, breezy air in. Seeing as he has little regard for his own safety, it makes sense why he seems to hate taking care of himself. Before the thirteen-year-old dragon could say another word, the door was somehow slammed shut, causing the whole room to rumble and shudder like an reasonable large earthquake shaking the ground violently to give emphasis to Spyro's stubbornness and grumpiness.

Smokey sighed and shook his head in disbelief, less than happy with his colleague's attitude and his pig-headedness. Sure, he admires and looks up to the dragon hero but at times, he doesn't know he has to tolerate with his behaviour. "He may be my idol and my colleague but sometimes, I don't know why I need to put up with him."

* * *

Once he's outside the watchtower, Spyro wearily travelled to his lifeguard chair while trying to keep his sickly, purple eyes open. It's hard to tell whether he's falling asleep or he has just woken up. To make matters worse, the colour of his scaly face changed to a paler shade of purple as if the colour actually drained from it, due to his ill condition. He's so sick, he felt like not doing anything on this day or any day of the month and he doesn't know which is worse: the inflammation of the lining of his throat or the rest of his symptoms.

It didn't take him long to reach his chair but at the pace he's going, it's going to take more than a while to get there. His journey eventually came to an end when he arrived at where his chair was located at and he hesitantly ascended the ladder when his claws grabbed onto it. With every step he makes, he climbed up until he slumped into the chair in a tiredly mood. Before making himself comfortable and making him feel at home, he hung his purple bag of belongings on the right side of it.

Luckily, there's someone to cheer him up, uplift his spirits and attempting to make him take his mind of feeling poorly. Elora entered through the entrance to Dragon Shores wearing a forest green bikini which covered most of her pear-shaped, womanly body while holding a light yellow-tan picnic basket, just in time to hear a couple of ear-piercing and horrifically disturbing, hacking coughs coming from somewhere or someone.

"What a nice, sun-drenched day! A perfect day to have a picnic, kick back and relax, watch the sunset, the salty ocean rolling in and retreating back and there's not a sign of trouble in sight." She beamed, she momentarily took a deep breath, taking in the fresh air despite that it's unbearably humid, not to mention airless and then exhaled as she let her eyes wander all over the sunny, tropical landscape around her._ That's weird… why am I hearing someone coughing just now and where those coughs are coming from? _She thought to herself as soon as a few, dissonant hacking coughs entered her ears and echoed deafeningly through the seaside.

Wondering where those unbearable noises are come from, she let her eyes wander around until she finally gazed up to see Spyro who is unwell, coughing roughly and harshly into a tissue. They are coughs that made loud rough sounds. They are so discordant and ear-splitting, he hardly heard Elora's hoovesteps and noticed her already standing on the right side of him. After a bout of hacking coughs, he removed his crinkled handkerchief from his purple, reptilian lips and threw it into a nearby recycling bin to get rid of it.

"Excuse me, sir? May I speak to you?" Elora attempted to get the poorly, well-known defender's attention by increasing the volume of her feminine, pleasant voice to the highest level, due to the lifeguard sitting on a high, white chair that's towering over her. Given that she doesn't know his name yet, she refers to him as "sir".

Her pleasant-sounding, feminine voice got the ailing lifeguard's attention straight away but due to the one of the symptoms of his severe cold, it's not easy for him to hear her voice, let alone anybody's voice. He looked around with half-opened eyes in an ailing, non-drowsy mood in various, different directions to search for the source of the voice.

"Is someone here?" He asked in a frail, tiredly manner, speaking through his clogged up, ruddy nose at a slower pace.

"Down here."

A faint, weak smile stretched across Spyro's lips when he located the source of the lovely, womanly voice. The instant he laid his eyes on her, he climbed down the ladder of his chair and once his paws touched the uneven, sandy surface of the sand, he walked up to the seemingly new visitor in a laid-back manner in spite of his mild ailment, in order for him to welcome her to the beach. Due to wearing sunglasses over his watery, bloodshot and puffy eyes, he barely recognised the creature or being in front of him.

"Hi. Welcome to Dragon Shores, I'm one of the lifeguards of this beach. Can I help you?" He attempted to greet the seemingly new visitor in the best he could in a polite and courteous way even as he spoke in a shallow, raspy voice.

Seeing as it is her first time in Dragon Shores and she hardly know anything about the lifeguard, Elora rested her hands and arms in front of her waist and chest, fiddling with her fingers awkwardly. Since Spyro gave her a proper welcoming, it was no harm in being respectful back to him. "Er… yes. I was wondering if you could give me a tour since this is my first time being here, sir."

"Sure, I'll show you around but when this is over, I have to get back to work."

After Spyro finished his sentence, he let out a series of disconcert hacking coughs from his reptilian lips, he covered his mouth with his right claw to prevent any disgusting germs from spreading. They are small and frequent coughs, usually short and dry; broken coughs with rough and loud sounds.

Hearing the cold-stricken hero coughing threw Elora off balance, made her skin crawl uncomfortably and sent a sequence of shivers as well as bringing discomforting, uninviting chills to her spine. Sure, it's nice and pleasant to stand next to someone she's beginning to develop a crush on but not just to let his coughs blare deafeningly in her delicate pointy ears. She slightly shuddered before gazing into his sickly eyes with a frown.

Since the little lifeguard's painful-sounding, hacking coughs took her by surprise, it took her a while to recover from the unsettling, off-putting moment after feeling ill at ease right near him. "Are you all right? Your coughs sound very disturbing and you don't look so good. I think you should go and see a doctor."

Overwhelmed with the symptoms that he's currently suffering badly from, Spyro shook his scaly head as his answer to the fretful, female faun's question as he lifted a miniature, purple-coloured claw and placed it on his forehead, a wave of dizziness began to sweep over him. "I feel awful… I feel like I'm gonna—"

Before he could finish his sentence, everything around him is spinning at an incredibly fast pace and the scenery, the inhabitants and Elora are becoming blurry as he began to lose his vision and everything is starting to go black. He gave out a breathless sigh before his purple eyes roll backwards until he fell, losing consciousness. Luckily, the blue-eyed, brunette-haired faun acted quickly and managed to catch him in her arms before he collapsed to the rough, uneven sand.

"Oh my goodness! Please wake up! Oh… what am I going to do?" Elora shouted in alarm, shaking him frantically and repeatedly but to no avail. No matter how many times she tried to move him about or how anxiously she agitates him, he wouldn't wake up or respond to her. Her voice was filled with extreme worry, feeling a lot of sympathy towards the fainted lifeguard while her tears streamed down her face and cheeks. _Phew! He's still breathing and his pulse is still there._She thought to herself as she gently caressed Spyro's chest to see if there's any sign of life until she felt his heart thumping against her feminine hand while his chest was moving up and down in rhythm to his heartbeat or breathing. "Great. I fall head-over-hooves for a cute lifeguard and he ends up falling on me." She mumbled to herself in a quiet tone of voice, she felt like facepalming herself or smacking her forehead for getting herself into this situation. All she wanted was a relaxing, peaceful vacation and all she ended up with a sick, young lifeguard fainting in her arms.

Exceedingly alarmed out of her wits, the auburn-haired, sapphire-eyed faun desperately looking for a way to get or find help as soon as possible. Her eyes darted in each direction at a swift speed until she caught sight of the watchtower in the distance. She assumed it's an appropriate place to get proper assistance when there's a cold-stricken, fainted lifeguard in need.

"Maybe there's someone at this small building who can help me." She muttered, more to herself than to anyone else.

Using the strength she has, Elora flung the passed out, purple-scaled teen over her arms and hands. She then began her trip to the watchtower but due to the weight of the poorly, purple protector, she's having trouble with moving him around.

"Boy, you're… kind of… heavy!" She gasped, panting between her words and struggling to carry Spyro around.

To her, it isn't easy trying to carry an unconscious lifeguard all over the beach. While travelling to the building, she can't help but glancing at him laying peacefully and unconsciously in her arms, feeling sorry for him. It's like as if his body is utterly limp and lifeless, not responding to her or to anything at all and not a single sound or voice left his petite jaws.

After numerous minutes have passed, Elora ultimately arrived at her destination with a motionless Spyro in tow as the bottom of her black hooves made noisy, clopping sounds when they touched the first step below the deep tan-coloured, wooden door. She knocked on it twice with one hand because of her politeness that is part of her personality and patiently waited for someone on the other side of the door to answer it.

Her pointy, pink ears picked up the sounds of small, noiseless footsteps, followed by another sound of the door being unlocked and gradually creak open. Standing right before her eyes was another young dragon who has a similar stature to Spyro but his scales were grey and he wore a swimsuit that's nearly identical to him. Obviously, he's known as Smokey, who happens to be the dragon hero's new friend and colleague.

"Hi! How may I help yo—" Before he could complete his sentence, his eyes instantly bulge out at a greater extent in a traumatized fashion and his sentence was cut short when he noticed Spyro's unconscious body in Elora's arms. "Wh-wh-what happened…?"

"He was fine before and now, he passed out right in my arms. I'm worried that…" Elora's eyes are filled with emotion and were beginning to well up with watery tears, she couldn't bear to see Spyro suffering like that while her tears continued to stream down her cheeks. "…that… there's se-seriously s-something wr-wrong with him!"

Couldn't bear to see the Avalarian faun weeping, Smokey lowered his voice to a lower level, in order to set her mind at rest and reassuring her that his co-worker will get through his minor illness. "Hey, don't cry. My colleague will pull through. I'm sure he's just suffering from a mild sickness. Unfortunately, it's going from bad to worse. Can you put him down on the step for me so I can bring him in?" He asked nicely, telling her to settle his unconscious workmate on the ground before him and deciding to change the subject.

The minute she heard those comforting words from the thirteen-year-old, grey-scaled dragon, the grief-stricken faun wiped away her teardrops from her dry, tear-stained cheeks and reddish eyes with her fingers and her voice was choked up with tears while water dripped from her eyes. "All-all right… then."

"Thanks." Smokey grinned, expressing his thanks to Elora for settling his fainted, sick colleague on the front doorstep for him.

Careful as she was, the Avalari faun knelt down and softly laid Spyro down on the doorstep before she rose up to her feet or hooves and allowed Smokey to take care of the rest. He somehow clutched the body of his unconscious workmate with his pint-sized claws, his tiny talons gripped it mightily and pulled him backwards while flapping his wings up and down speedily. Since he refused to ask the female faun for help because if she helped him bring Spyro inside the watchtower, that means she will have to come in and thus, breaking the rule. He can't risk this happening so he'll have to sort out this situation himself. In spite of the thirteen-year-old, pubertal dragon not requesting for assistance, Elora took the liberty of crouching down until she is facing before the fourteen-year-old, purple-scaled juvenile's feet and pushed against them with both of her hands until she and the other lifeguard left him near the doorway and inside the building, reclining in an upright position.

Before the saddened, green vest-wearing faun could walk into the building so she can keep the ailing, purple-skinned pubescent company, the grey-coloured adolescent took action by making his way back to the doorway and stopped her from going any further by extending his teeny wings to a larger extent, thus blocking the doorway.

"Can I at least see him if he's all right?" Elora enquired, still fretting out of her wits and dreading that the symptoms of Spyro's sickness might be worsening by the minute to the point he is absolutely in no condition to defend himself, much less save the Dragon Realms (including Dragon Shores), Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds from harm, evil doers and villains.

Remembering the sign on the door, Smokey shook his head and knew it's still his duty to enforce rules, especially preventing anyone from entering the doorway of the watchtower as he tried to sound authoritive. "I'm sorry but you'll have to wait outside 'til he wakes up. I'll try to do everything I can to get him better again. The building is off limits to anyone except lifeguards. Catch you later!"

Without saying goodbye and another word, he pulled his unconscious colleague into the main room of the watchtower and immediately closed the door in front of Elora as it moves to the left slowly but surely before shutting completely.

* * *

After what seemed like a small amount of hours has passed and innumerable hours of waiting at the doorstep, Spyro departed out of the lifeguard watchtower after regaining consciousness from passing out. Clutching the door with his teeny, left wing, Smokey stood in the doorway, having a brief conversation with a cold-stricken Spyro and Elora.

Being a worrywart that he is when it comes to feeling sympathetic towards his newfound friend, Smokey asked the unofficial leader of the Avalari if she could carry Spyro back to the watchtower if he fell unconscious again, due to the symptoms of his severe cold taking their toll on him. "If he's gonna collapse again, can you bring him back here?"

"Certainly. Don't worry I'll take better care of him and I'll always be by his side." Elora nodded in a strong-minded way and gave Smokey a comforting wide smile, reassuring him that she'll look after the cold-stricken, purple protector and try to do everything in her power to nurse him back to health. Obviously, she means it with each word that left her beautiful lips.

"Just let me know if his ill condition gets any worse."

"You worry way too much. Besides, what's th—" Spyro's words are cut off when a discomforting feeling was tickling his throat, causing a chain of dry coughs let out inopportunely from his scaly lips as he placed his front, right claw over them to cover his coughs. They seemed to be coughs with expectoration. He immediately cleared his throat before ending his sentence. "What's the worst that could happen?"

"What I meant were your ailment and the symptoms appear to be worsening with each passing minute and I worry about you 'cause you're my friend and workmate. We're lifeguards and we should stick together, even if one of us is feelin' under the weather at the moment." Smokey promptly placed both of his front, small claws on Spyro's aching haunches and stare deeply into his bloodshot, tired, ill eyes sympathetically, causing him to meet his gaze, realising the young, purple dragon's mild illness is already worsening by the second and telling him again that they are still a team and they should help each other out.

"He's right. The sooner you get over your sickness, the better." Elora couldn't agree any more, she knew that the quicker Spyro recovers from his severe cold, the less he or anybody else needs to worry about him and his health.

"For now, I've got a lot of paperwork to do and you have your share of it. Until then, see you guys later!" The 13-year-old, grey-coloured dragon removed his miniature claws from his poorly, purple-scaled peer and reminded him to do his paperwork that is left inside the watchtower by their stingy, strict employer instead of their easy-going, open-minded instructor before bidding his mates goodbye.

And with that, he somehow shut the door, letting it close at a snail's pace until it is entirely shut, leaving Spyro and Elora alone. They decided to leave the 13-year-old, grey-scaled lifeguard to his paperwork and as a pair, they leisurely walked away from the watchtower like they are having a relaxing, unhurried walk together. There's nothing like a stroll in the beach to make a certain, purple dragon take his mind of feeling pain from his severe cold.

The whole beach fell silent except for the sounds of icy-cold waves rolling in and retreating occasionally, various dragon families chatting and playing and other denizens enjoying themselves, whether they are catching some waves in the ocean, having a round of volleyball or engaging themselves in other summery activities.

The tranquil quietness was suddenly broken by rasping, barking (not like a dog, canine or puppy) and wheezing sounds, followed by a hacking cough coming from Spyro, who covered his purple, reptilian lips with one of his small claws and coughed disturbingly. His hacking cough is a dry, painful cough with a harsh, unpleasant sound that reverberated off the rocky cliffs, bounced off the sea and echoed through the unventilated, stifling air. He laid a claw on his chest in extreme pain because his throat hurt so much from how terrible his hacking cough is.

It's so disconcerting it made Elora's skin crawl discomfortingly and sent an uninviting chill down her spine. Despite that, she managed to retain her composure and decided to break the awkward silence between her and the cold-stricken, undisputed hero of the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds.

Still feeling concerned for the celebrity hero, Elora couldn't help but ask him if he is okay whilst she took a fleeting look at him before gazing distractedly towards the icy-cold, undulating waves and the big, burning ball in the clear, cloudless sky on the horizon. "Are you all right now? You fainted an hour ago and you seem a bit out of it."

"I'm okay now, I—" Spyro stopped in mid-sentence when he covered his snout, drew back his head and neck, on the verge of letting out an ear-splitting sneeze from his nostrils. He threw his cranium and neck forward, sending out a powerful torrent of fiery, scorching flames and a great deal of perfectly revolting snot. "AH… AHH… AHHH… AHHHH… AH-CHOOOOOOOO!"

"Bless you." The Avalarian, brunette-haired faun simply replied, uttering the usual words whenever someone or a creature sneezes. She somehow pulls out a clean, green-coloured hankie out of nowhere and held it out to the sick, young lifeguard in one of her womanly, human hands. "Here's a tissue for you, use this to blow your nose."

The fourteen-year-old, heroic dragon snivelled before he graciously took the handkerchief with both small, purple claws and blew his nose violently. "Thanks, I really needed that."

"It's my pleasure." Elora's lovely lips curled into a kind-hearted, genial grin, clearly happy to help the daring, teenage dragon in his time of need. Sometimes, she wonders if the only way to spend plenty of time with Spyro is to care for him and nurse him back to health.

"Obviously, this is Dragon Shores. It's—" Spyro's words was unfortunately cut off when a round of harsh, hacking coughs were ejected from his reptilian lips while he moved a clenched claw to them and coughed harder. They sounded dreadfully disturbing and grew louder with each cough. After a short period of coughing, he resumed to giving the sapphire-eyed, brown-haired faun an explanation about the beach and the whole area. "It's a popular vacation spot for dragons and everyone to go on holiday and to have fun. On the left side of the beach is the lighthouse, it's located on a cliff." As he said this, he motioned his head to a lighthouse sitting alone atop a stony, rock-strewn cliff on the horizon.

"Have you ever been there?" Elora curiously asked, interested to know if the sick, teenage lifeguard has visited the lighthouse before in his life. Usually she isn't the type of creature to be nosy and poking into anybody's business that doesn't belong to her but she couldn't help but questioning him to find out what he does, besides being on duty, patrolling the beach, rescuing drowning victims or doing anything else.

"Not really." A snuffling sound was sent out from Spyro's reddish, blocked-up nose and nostrils before he responded to the blue-eyed, auburn-haired faun's inquisitive question and giving her directions to the whereabouts of the theme park. "My colleague and I don't head over there, it's not part of our job. Anyway, if you exit the beach, there's the amusement park." To show Elora what he was talking about, he motioned his head to the theme park in the distance. "Before I had a part-time job as a lifeguard, I tend to go there with my best friend but he's not with me at the moment."

"I know this is none of my business but where is he?"

"He's—" Once again, Spyro's sentence was interrupted when a series of persistent hacking coughs were inconveniently let out of his fiery lungs whilst he placed his right claw over his mouth to cover his hacking coughs. The more he coughed intensively, the rougher and louder they get. They appeared to be dry, painful coughs with harsh, unpleasant sounds. Realising how much harm was brought to his lungs, the more he was coughing violently, he puts a claw on his chest as he frowned and grimaced in an uncomfortable manner. "All of that talking is making me cough and the air is worsening my coughs."

"Maybe you should stop talking and let your co-worker temporarily replace you for a bit. That way, you can rest for while." Elora advised, still a teensy bit shaken and traumatised from the little lifeguard's previous continual, yet painful-sounding, hacking coughs.

"He can't, his shift isn't today. Y'know, your voice kinda reminds me of someone I met a few years ago. We had… erm… a short date in the amusement park at Dragon Shores… but…" The purple protagonist gave an account of his brief date with Elora, who was standing near him and listening to every word that left his miniature maw. He began to trail off as he lowered his voice until it's hardly a whisper, frowning about what happened to his relationship with Elora. "But… it didn't work out. She's probably busy or she had a lot of things on her mind."

Without hesitation, Elora tried her hardest at telling her account of how the young lifeguard reminds her of a certain, purple dragon she once had a crush on. "Coincidentally, you seemed to remind me of a guy I used to know a couple of years ago. I…" She trailed off as well as she quietly spoke, saddened that she hasn't seen Spyro in a couple of years, not knowing she's speaking to him the whole time. "I haven't seen him in a few years, he hasn't even sent me a letter and I've been wondering how he's doing, each day. You could say he saved my world at least once. He's a nice guy and he's very cute but he can be um… how should I put this? I don't know… a bit of a dork sometimes."

Once Elora's account of her relationship with the golden-horned, fire-breathing saviour was brought to an end, he was blushing slightly in an embarrassing way, he's at a loss for words because of what Elora told him as her words made him recall his past, including the memory of when they officially met in Summer Forest near the Glimmer portal. "I… I don't know what I could say about that."

Sensing that the lifeguard teen is acting strange, the vacationing, bikini-clad faun asked him why his cheeks and his scaly face abruptly changed from a pallid hue of purple (due to his terrible cold) to a vibrant tint of red. "Is there something wrong with what I said? Why are you blushing?"

The instant the blue-eyed, female faun asked him two questions, Spyro raised his front, two claws upwards in defence as if he already did something wrong as the redness in his cheeks began to steadily wane little by little and vanish until there's not any reddishness at all. He didn't want her to know that he felt awkward and self-conscious of the way she described him and their past relationship. "I-I'm not! I-It's no-not like I've got a crush on you or something! Besides, what makes—" Another consecutive chain of raucous hacking coughs disrupted his sentences as they escaped from his throat as he covered his miniature maw with one of his claws to prevent any disgusting germs from spreading. His coughs are short, frequent, shallow and feeble coughs and they are getting worse and disturbingly by the second. "What makes you think I remind you of whomever you're talking about?"

Upon observing him, Elora was listing the details of the reptilian lifeguard's appearance and facial features that are awfully recognisable to her, starting to suspect that he is truthfully the same young dragon she met at Glimmer in Avalar. "Well… you've got purple scales, your voice sounds familiar despite your minor illness and—"

Suddenly, a high-pitched scream cut through the sun-drenched, daytime sky that interrupted what appears to be a pleasurable conversation between Spyro and Elora, even though neither of them recognised each other yet. Despite the symptoms of his nasty cold, Spyro's hidden ears picked the scream up and his purple eyes immediately grew to a larger size at the sound of a desperate cry for help from a drowning, helpless denizen.

"HEEEEEEEEELP! SOMEONE SAVE ME!" The way the unknown creature or living being screamed at the top of their lungs sounds exceedingly desperate and in desperate need for some help from one of the new recruited lifeguards. Since this tropical resort is called _Dragon_ Shores, the drowning victim is most likely either any type of dragon, regardless of what age he or she is.

Disappointed to end the discussion with Elora, Spyro gave her an apologetic look for leaving her at such short notice and frowned in a saddened manner. "Uh-oh! Sorry but I gotta go, duty calls. I'll see you later, okay?"

Without hesitation, he scampered off within a blink of an eye to the left side of the beach as fast as his four, purple-scaled paws could carry him, in spite of his mild sickness. Moments later, he can be easily seen with a burnside buoy from the corner of Elora's cerulean eyes before diving into the ocean with finesse to save a drowning swimmer as if he's been saving people's lives for years. Obviously, he must have brought it with him from the lifeguard tower.

Suspicious that the cold-stricken lifeguard might possibly be Spyro, Elora pondered to herself and was lost in thought. "There's something strange and recognisable about that lifeguard…"

* * *

Ever since her encounter with the local lifeguard, she couldn't get him out of her mind but there's something suspicious and familiar about him. His teenage, pleasant-sounding voice (despite that it now became shallow and hoarse, due to his mild ailment), his large, golden horns, the colour of his chest, his charming purple eyes, his uneven, purple-coloured scales and so forth fits the description of the dragon she met a couple of years ago at Glimmer in Avalar. Yet, she hasn't seen him anywhere on the seaside yet.

Her thoughts stopped flowing through her head when she caught a glimpse of a pair of sunglasses washed up on the shoreline and lost in the sandy lumps and layers of sand as the icy, salty water retreated into the distance. Curious to know whom the dark glasses belong to, she carefully lifted it up and brought it up to her face.

_I wonder if these sunglasses belong to anybody? _She wondered to herself while holding a pair of shades in her right hand and gazing puzzlingly at them.

A small number of miles from her, the poorly, purple protector is searching for something that's valuable to him as he bent his head down, shifting his eyes in every direction. While he's looking around, a sporadic string of hacking coughs are expelled from his throat roughly and harshly. They are loud coughs that sound painful. He placed a small claw over his mouth to cover his hacking coughs and prevent infectious, repulsive germs from scattering. They are horrendously jarring; they caused the blue-eyed, auburn-haired faun to swivel around to glance at him sympathetically.

With the sunglasses in her right hand, she jogged over to him and she stopped in her tracks, remaining still in front of him.

"Pardon me, what are you looking for?" She questioned the pubertal, reptilian lifeguard in a courteous fashion, she couldn't help but speculate what he is searching for on the uneven, sandy surface near the shoreline of the beach.

"I'm searching for my sunglasses." The young, purple dragon distractedly replied, obviously occupied with looking for his shades and avoiding eye contact with the auburn-haired, cerulean-eyed faun. It seems nothing could sidetrack him or knock off his concentration.

"Are these are what you're looking for, sir?"

To prove what she is talking about, she stretches out her hand to show that she found the shades after it washed up on the shoreline. Spyro's eyes instantly lit up in extreme cheerfulness, the instant he saw his dark glasses in front of him, immediately forgetting about his severe cold.

He smiled a draconic, toothy smile in Elora's direction, overjoyed that she found his shades for him. "My sunglasses! How the heck did you find it?"

"I found it washed ashore on the sand so I wondered if it belongs to anyone." The sapphire-eyed, reddish-brown-haired faun explained to the poorly, purple-eyed dragon in detail of how she located the dark glasses.

Gladly taking it from her hand, the 14-year-old, headstrong dragon promptly let himself and his paws settle on the sand as he took it back into his possession.

"Thanks for finding it. I won't be able to look cool without it and it always protect my eyes from the sun." He expressed his thanks to the Avalari faun as his purple, reptilian lips curl into an appreciative, amiable smile and he was grateful for her for finding his sunspecs for him.

Since the sunspecs is covered in a large amount of sand and grimy dirt, he softly wiped the sand off the frames and glasses with his claws. Without the dark glasses over his eyes, the identity of the lifeguard is revealed and turns out to be the same, heroic dragon Elora met a small number of years ago in Avalar. His innocent eyes, despite the fact they are watery, bloodshot and puffy, mesmerized her while he's occupied with cleaning his sunglasses.

She couldn't take her eyes off of him and she doesn't know what she sees in a dragon like him. Not much has changed about him except that he grew a few inches taller and matured a little. Spyro paused to move a clenched claw to his reptilian lips and expelled a few hacking coughs from his fiery lungs abruptly before he snivelled and resuming to clean his sunglasses. They are loud coughs that sound painful. He is so occupied in wiping his tinted lenses, he hardly noticed Elora continuing to stare lovingly at him. Just before he is about to place it over his eyes, he finally spotted her right before his eyes as he jumped in surprise, almost dropping his sunglasses in the process.

"What the—? El-Elora, i-is th-that you…?" He gasped, finding this hard to believe as he took a couple of steps backwards. He was completely taken aback and cannot believe his eyes that he finally saw the faun he thought he'd never see again ever since the last time they met, he narrowed his eyes to get a closer look at her to see if it's who he really thinks she is.

"Sp-Spyro? What are you doing here?" This was all Elora could come out with, never expecting the lifeguard to be her past crush or love interest this entire time. The last time she encountered him when she, the Professor and Agent 9 were discussing with him near the entrance of the island laboratory before heading off to the Fireworks Factory to find him and Sparx there and joined them to watch the fireworks and Hunter and Bianca are enjoying the firework display, hand in hand, after sharing a kiss under the full moon hanging above them in the moonlit, starry sky while Sgt. James Byrd set off the fireworks.

To protect his eyes from the unforgiving rays of the sun, the poorly, purple defender slipped on his sunglasses over them and weakly smiled, a tad bit cheered up from his mild sickness. "Same thing I would ask you."

"My life was hectic in Avalar so I decided to go on vacation to take a break from my busy schedule. And you…?" Elora gave details of how hectic her busy schedule is back at her home and made a decision to travel to Dragon Shores to relax and let her troubles wash away with the tides.

"I usually come here for a vacation but this is not the reason this time. Gildas suggested I should a part-time job as a lifeguard at Dragon Shores and gave me a leaflet. I was so busy in my part-time job; I never had the chance to tell it to my friends yet. Sparx was the first one to know about this." Spyro explained, giving a detailed account of how he ended up with a part-time job as a lifeguard and the fact he hasn't informed his companions and allies yet.

A hoarse, hacking sound can be heard from his lungs before he coughed even more after he finished speaking. Just as he expected, a sequence of dreadful hacking coughs were sent out from his reptilian gullet as he squeezed his eyes shut and moved a clenched claw to his scaly lips to stop any awfully, gross germs from spreading everywhere or anywhere. They are coughs that made loud rough sounds and whenever he coughs, his lungs hurts from how bad his hacking coughs are. They grew noisier and increasingly painful with each cough, they are so unbearable, they made Elora cringing uncomfortably. After a bout of hacking coughs has ended, he opened his eyes, removed his claw from his small jaws and sighed deeply, relieved from his coughing.

"Sorry about that, Elora. I came down with a bad cold yesterday; I might have been infected with it after I did a babysitting errand, taking care of the baby dragons. I realised I had it when I arrived home at night and started coughing later on." A sickly, apologetic frown was plastered on his face as he enlightened his old friend with his short account of how he became ill with a cold.

Feeling sympathetic towards the heroic, winged reptile after realising that he has fallen ill, Elora knelt down to his level and gently placed her right, womanly hand on his rough, uneven back, caressing it in a compassionate manner. Even though his back had teeny, yellow spikes, she managed to settle her hand on it without getting pricked by the sharp, pointy ends of the spikes. "I'm sorry to hear that. If I known you were sick, I would have arrived here in time to see you. I'll tell you what: if you're not occupied with lifeguard duty, I'll go with you to see a doctor."

The purple protector somehow used one of his reddish-brown wings to shove Elora's hand away from his back and was scowling in her direction, not liking where this conversation is going and trying to retain his reputation, despite his severe cold. "I'm perfectly fine without seeing a doctor and I don't need anyone taking care of me like a dragon hatchling, I'm old enough to look after myself."

Deciding to talk some sense into the little dragon, in an attempt to make him change his mind, Elora removed her hand from his back, positioned it on the right side of her hip, along with her other hand on the left side and rose up to her feet or black hooves. Since she's taller than him, she can easily tower over him. "Stop being stubborn, you dork! You need to visit a doctor whether you like it or not, it's for your own good. If you don't, you won't get better anytime soon and your cold will worsen." The volume of her voice gradually rose up to the utmost level with every word that flew out of her feminine lips, giving the ailing, fire-spewing hero a good scolding.

Spyro opened his mouth to argue back but he didn't had a chance to when he saw Elora pouting as if she's about to sob or show displeasure on her womanly, human-like face when he shifted his eyes to her direction.

"Oh, all right, I'll go but only 'cause you talked me into it." He showed displeasure and eventually gave in, speaking in a reluctant tone as his teeny wings flopped down to both sides of his little, purple-scaled body.

Satisfied that she came out as the victor of the argument, the auburn-haired, strong-willed faun giggled cheerfully with a pleasurable smile across her lovely lips while her expression slowly softened and the volume of her voice dwindled to a normal level or to a minimum. "I knew you couldn't resist my pouting and it's pointless to continue arguing when it comes to your health and wellbeing. It's almost lunchtime, are you hungry?"

In response to Elora's question, Spyro merely nodded and softly rubbed his pallid yellow underbelly with one of his petite, purple claws, suggesting he's hungry and suddenly have a appetite for some grub, a handful of morsels or a serving of scrumptious, mouthwatering food. "Yeah, I'm fam—"

Before he could finish his sentence, an uncontrollable, sneezing fit ensued as if someone is using a incredibly soft, fluffy feather to tickle his ruddy, blocked up nose and nostrils as he kept throwing his head backwards with a lot of force and thrusting it forward, sneezing out torrents of scorching, burning fire and extremely gross snot intensely at an alarmingly fast pace for minutes on end. His sneezes sound just as awful as his hacking coughs, they seemed to be dry painful sneezes that are repeated often.

Elora stifled a gasp, not expecting an unmanageable sneezing fit from the purple-scaled boy of a dragon. Feeling empathetic for him, she stretched her arm out, in order to put it around him as her way of consoling and calming him down. All she could do was watch the cold-stricken lifeguard being in so much pain from his continuous sneezing.

"I think a bowl of chicken soup will fix you right up. It's a surefire cure for your horrible cold. Let's search for a spot to set up a picnic; I've got all the essentials to make chicken soup. It's supposed to be for myself but I think you need it more than I do." She lowered down the volume of her voice to the lowest level until it's barely a whisper, in order to make the young dragon feel at ease and in attempt to quietening him down.

And so, they began their leisurely walk around the beach, touching the roughness of the sandy surface of the sand underneath their hooves and paws, a trail of hooveprints and paw prints were left behind them as they go. Besides the sounds of the population and the dragon families enjoying themselves and going about their business, the only sounds that filled the air, echoed and reverberated piercingly through the seashore is non-stop sneezing coming from a certain purple dragon.

* * *

After what seemed like an endless quantity of hours has passed as if the time is running too fast and finding flammable wooden logs (that are in a shade of the darkest brown there is) for starting a fire, Spyro and Elora eventually came across a suitable spot to set up a picnic for the two of them or more, if their buddies and allies showed up. By the time they found somewhere to have lunch, Spyro has eventually recovered from his dreadful sneezing fit.

Being the diligently faun that she is, Elora gently settled the blanket in front of her after pulling it out from her picnic basket which the teenaged, purple dragon held one of its handles in his mouth. He carefully placed down the picnic basket beside her while she laid down the firewood and kindling on the left side of the blanket, on the burning, uneven sand with care. Before they took a seat on the blanket, the Avalari faun smoothed it out neatly in case there are any creases visible. Once it's ready to be sat on, she repositioned the picnic basket and changed its position so it's situated between her and the ailing, fire-breathing lifeguard.

"Fortunately, I've brought a can of chicken soup and a lot of equipment but I was so busy in packing up for my vacation I've forgotten to take a can opener with me. Spyro, can you please open the can?" She withdrew a tin container from the picnic basket after she opened the left side of the lids and reached out her right hand to offer the small, tin can to the ill, purple-scaled boy of a dragon for him to open the oval-shaped, silvery lid with his petite claws or little, white talons.

"Sure thing…" Spyro weakly responded in an unwell, non-drowsy mood, a few throaty wheezes were ejected of his reptilian gullet before he could concluded his sentence. Apparently, his ragged breaths and his croaky voice interfered with his speaking. "…Elora. I'll open this in a jiffy."

Elora lends the can of chicken soup to the cold-stricken, purple protagonist and with a single, white talon, he pushed it through the thick metal with the large amount of strength he has to create a reasonable, normal-sized hole. Once that was done, he began cutting around it in a clockwise motion, in the same manner as using a can opener. The minute he reached the end of the silver, metal lid after a small number of minutes have gone, he used one of his claws to pull it upwards to an immense extent as mightily as he could.

Deep inside the can is a watery, coloured liquid of goodness filled to the brim with chopped up bits of carrots, succulent chicken and perfectly cooked peas, it looks delicious enough to drink and has full of flavour. Those were an adequate amount of nutrients to make him feel a bit better and good inside. A chicken-flavoured aroma lingered in the stifling, tropical air, it's so highly seasoned anyone can smell it from a mile away except Spyro, because of his blocked up, red nose and nostrils.

"Here ya go, Elora." His voice became even hoarse than before as if he almost completely lost his voice whilst he uttered these words and he extended out one of his claws out to hand the opened can back to his past buddy.

"Thank you for opening it for me. It smells wonderfully good; take at whiff at it, Spyro." Elora showed her gratitude to the reptilian, winged teenager and reached out one of her human-like, tan-white hands to take back the opened container from him before hoisting it upwards to her nose to smell the chicken-flavoured aroma, taking the delight in appreciating the scent while it travelled into her nostrils.

She then brings the opened can to the cold-stricken dragon hero's red, snot-filled nose and he sniffed it but no matter how many times he gets a whiff of it, not a single chicken-flavoured scent travelled into his tiny nostrils. After a moments whiff of the odour, Elora positioned the opened tin can on the right side of the picnic basket.

"I can't smell anything." This was all Spyro could say after giving up on sniffing the unprepared, chicken soup which was packed inside the can-shaped, silvery container after what seemed like over a hundred times he tried.

Nonetheless, Elora quickly knew why the poorly, winged reptile couldn't take a whiff of the chicken-flavoured goodness of the soup and took the opportunity of stating the reason. "That's because your nose is stuffy and blocked. Spyro, can you please light up the firewood and logs with your flame breath?" She graciously asked, moving on to the next question which she required the forthcoming response from the teenaged lifeguard.

"Sure…" Spyro sniffled when a trickle of snot inconveniently dribbled out of his nostrils and promptly snuffled the gooey, bright green mucus straight back into his red, stuffy nose which caused a loud, sniffling sound in the process. Since his purple bag is still hanging on the right side of the lifeguard chair, he couldn't be bothered to get a packet of tissues. Once he composed himself, he resumes his sentence while he smiled feebly in the brunette-haired faun's direction. "…Elora. Just let me catch my breath and stand back."

The brown-haired, azure-eyed faun did as she was told, she rose up from her spot and walked backwards, making sure she's stood a little further away from the fire-breathing lifeguard. He closed his eyes, puffed out his chest and took a deep breath, preparing to blow out a powerful torrent of scorching, fiery flames but the moment he breathed out, he coughed up smoke instead.

He was coughing faintly and frequently, or in a short, broken manner; as hacking coughs. As he coughed roughly and harshly, he covered his mouth with a single, purple claw while the Avalarian faun shuddered uneasily and uncomfortably with each hacking cough that were released from his reptilian lips. After a short period of hacking coughs, he opened his eyes, moved his claw away from his lips and heaved a sigh of relief, feeling at ease from his coughing whilst Elora cautiously walked back to her sick friend, lifeguard and residential hero as she settled down next to him on the picnic blanket.

This definitely spells bad news for Spyro. Without his signature ability, he's in deep trouble, not to mention being totally defenceless, incapacitated and in a weak position to do anything. Understanding how serious the situation could be for her fire-breathing friend, the anxiety and her worries were starting to get to her as she glanced at him in a nerve-racking manner. "This is very worrying and a predicament, how are you going to defend yourself without your fire breath?"

Spyro shrugged with his front claws, unsure of how to whup his adversaries' sorry butts without his signature ability, which is his fire breath. "I'm not sure, I could try charging my enemies with my horns but that will probably give me a headache. It's bad enough I already have one right now." As if on cue, he was rubbing his forehead with one of his pint-sized claws to ease the agonizing, sharp pain that was throbbing insufferably in his head. "I can barely breathe through my nose, let alone breathe fire."

As she mentioned the word, 'matches', she stuck her right hand into her picnic basket and painstakingly rummaged through to search for a box of matches. "Luckily, I brought a box of matches in case of emergency or if something like this happens. I think this qualifies as one, due to your lack of fire." She stated, in a matter of fact tone of voice, grasping the realization that her cold-stricken chum is unable to breathe fire because of his mild sickness.

After what seemed like several minutes, she dragged out a teeny, yellow box of matches that is in a shape of a teeny rectangle with a light brown cover concealing the entire box. Secondly, she pulled the cover to the left to reveal a set of approximately twelve matches. Afterwards, she chose one of the matches randomly and the top end of the match came contact with the right side of the box after the match struck it. The match instantly ignited and caught fire within minutes, the fire burned brightly and numerous sparks are giving off in different directions.

Once that's done, she moved the match to the lumbers and timbers, causing the flame to touch them and immediately moved the match back to blow out the blaze that radiated vibrantly on the top end like an eternal flame. Since the logs are highly flammable, they were easy to be ablaze. Countless sheets of red, orange and yellow flames all came together to become one inferno and they are running wild at an unbelievably fast pace.

Subsequently, she went back to looking through the picnic basket for a medium-sized, black pot that is perfect for her size and a long, wooden spoon for stirring the soup. At long last, she found a pot and promptly lays it on the fire with her left hand and dragged out a spoon before settling it down on the blanket, in front of the basket.

Next, she lifted an opened can of chicken soup from its position and carefully poured the runny, chicken-flavoured liquor, along with its contents into the pot and once that's done, she slipped the empty can back into her picnic basket until she finds a bin. Afterwards, she grabbed hold of the wooden spoon, gripping it tightly in her hands and began stirring the soup continuously while the chopped-up vegetables were mixed with the liquid and they occasionally dissolve into it.

"As long as nobody's taking advantage of my severe cold or knew about it, I've got—" A few productive coughs interrupted Spyro's speech and were ejected from his reptilian gullet as he covered his mouth so he doesn't spread any revolting germs, they were coughs with expectoration of material from the bronchi. "I've got nothing to—" Once again, he stopped in mid-sentence when several, disturbing hacking coughs are forced out of his pocket-sized mouth as he coughed dreadfully into his right claw. They are small and frequent coughs, usually short and dry; broken coughs with rough and loud sounds and whenever he coughs his throat hurt from how bad his hacking coughs are. Depending on how hard he coughed, they can range from the quietest to the loudest. The more dissonant they are, the more painful-sounding and unendurable they can get. "…To worry about."

Curious and slightly afraid that she might have broken a rule, Elora turned her attention to the sick, teenage dragon asking him a question that came to her mind. Since he's one of the lifeguards and they are kind of like authority figures when it comes to enforcing rules and keeping the peace, he is the only lifeguard to turn to at the moment while Smokey is still inside the watchtower. "Spyro, is there any rule in the rulebook about making fires on the beach if I have to cook anything?"

"Not really. I think it—" Spyro stopped in mid sentence when a series of dry coughs were released from his oesophagus while he was constantly coughing into his small, purple-scaled claw. They appear to be coughs without expectoration. When his coughing ended, he cleared his throat and continued his sentence from where he left off. "I think it's acceptable. However, nobody is allowed to illegally set fire to any buildings, facilities, houses or landmarks here. My instructor never said that rule to me but it's definitely in the rulebook."

"How did you know about this rule? I don't remember you reading any books in your spare time."

"Hey, I may not be the type of guy to read books but reading that rulebook is part of my job."

After Spyro's last sentence, he and the auburn-haired, blue-eyed faun hardly spoke a word or engage themselves in any more chats, due to running out of things to talk about. The only thing that broke the awkward silence between them were the occasional one or two hacking coughs coming from the poorly, purple protector as he coughed loudly, roughly and harshly into his purple, right claw. They are dry painful coughs that are repeated often but they weren't as ear-piercing as his once continual hacking coughs from several minutes ago.

After what appears like more than several minutes have rapidly swept by, Elora loosened her grip on the wooden spoon, in order to fetch a medium-sized, bright green bowl and a silvery teaspoon from the picnic basket. She reached into it to drag them out and held them securely and steadily in both of her hands, to prevent herself from accidentally dropping them. After she withdrew them from the basket, she situated the bowl in front of her and gently placed the silver spoon inside, leaving it in a diagonal position.

She had a hunch that the soup is finally ready by taking in the chicken-flavoured, delectable aroma with her nose, feeling it worming its way into her teeny nostrils in a collection of curls and coils. Careful as can be and using all the strength she has within her, she gently lifted the pan and cautiously poured the edible, steaming soup into the medium-sized bowl until it fills it up little by little to the highest level. The soup seems to be in a colourless, white colour with innumerable freshly, pieces of vegetables such as vibrant, orange carrots, spherical, green peas and minuscule, yellow sweetcorn buoyant about in diverse directions, in the thick, gooey liquid with a chicken-flavoured aroma; it smells deliciously delectable it's good enough to drink or take a sip.

Fortunately, the sparkly, silver spoon didn't sink deeper into the bottom of the bowl and bobbed in the middle of the liquid like a pair of armbands or any sort of buoyant object was stopping a swimmer from plummeting into the ocean floor of the sea.

She raised the bowl with the spoon inside using left hand from where she left it until she held it facing towards her chest and picked up the spoon, nearly shoving it to her feminine, luxurious lips and gently blew on the spoonful of soup to decrease the temperature and blow away the transparent steam which caused them to scatter and disperse to various, different directions before pushing the spoon towards the sick, lifeguard teen.

"Now, open wi—"

Before Elora had a chance to feed the first spoonful of warm, succulent soup into the ailing, teenage lifeguard, she dropped the spoon back into the bowl and her sentence was disrupted when they turned to the sounds of footsteps approaching. All they can make out are four silhouettes walking forward in the distance that are in different heights, widths and sizes. Feeling a strange sensation tickling irritatingly in his throat and having the urge to cough again, more hacking, rasping, barking (not like a dog, canine or a puppy) and wheezing sounds fell out of Spyro's reptilian lips, followed by a uninterrupted chain of disturbing, hacking coughs were let loose from his lungs as he squeezed his eyes closed firmly and coughed very abhorrently and unpleasantly into his claw. They are coughs that make loud rough sounds and short, frequent, shallow and feeble coughs. They were noisy but not horrifically noisy for the unknown, mysterious figures to hear, therefore they were unaware that the cold-stricken, dragon hero is suffering badly from his painful, hacking coughs and his very bad cold right now.

As the four silhouettes come within reach of a disconcerted Elora and a coughing Spyro and crossed their field of vision, it turns out they are a quartet of his dependable pals which were walking side by side from left to right: Hunter, Bianca, Bartholomew and Macy. Out of the four-piece group, Hunter was surprised and thrilled to finally see his old, Avalari friend again after what seemed like a small number of years when he and his friends are approaching her and the cold-stricken defender of the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds. The Avalarian cheetah was incredibly ecstatic and excited to get started with his gossip with his Avalari chum and catch up with other stuff, he hardly realised his close friend is suffering from a bout of hacking coughs at the moment.

Hunter decided to wear a pair of dark navy shorts that came down to near his knees and it concealed his spotty skin with a white belt tied firmly around his waist, due to the sweltering, airless heat wave, searing, sizzling temperature and the tropical, sunny climate. As always, he forgot his running shoes so he had no choice but to walk along the sandy, gravely surface barepawed.

Bianca wore a purple bikini that matches her eye shadow above her sapphire eyes instead of her usual attire that she was clothed in during the ordeal with the sinister Sorceress. Her appearance didn't change much except her clothing. She and the thick-skulled cheetah haven't married yet but they are still a pair, currently they were linking arms together.

Just like Hunter, Bartholomew also wore a pair of light grey shorts that are in a shade similar to his feet but they only reached the top of them. Ever since they shared a kiss at the Fireworks Factory, he and his girlfriend have been doing things together as a couple, regardless of their age. It is unusual for him not to hang around with Bentley at the outpost in the Forgotten Worlds but he made decision to mingle with his love interest and his two friends.

Macy has white fur just like the cat witches from Charmed Ridge and she used to work for the Sorceress as an apprentice, just like Bianca. Her eyes are emerald-coloured and she wears a crimson-coloured renaissance dress. It has a circular neck and laced down the front with a blackish color. The sleeves would get wider as you would go down and somewhere near her upper arms there was a black line. What separates the lower part from the upper part of the dress is a black stripe that helps to give her some shape. The lower part of her dress opens out like a puffy, red tutu with black layers under it that matches the black lace at the ends of her sleeves. Finally, she wears a black cloak and she never wears shoes.

Not expecting to come across his previous pal any time soon, Hunter stopped linking arms with his rabbit sweetheart and was completely astonished but thrilled at the same time, his eyes immediately grew to a larger extent at the sight of her being in Dragon Shores. "El-Elora? It's been a long time since I last you!"

"Hunter! It's nice to see you again! Do you live here now? Where are Zoe, the Profess—" Elora perked up the minute her pointy, pink ears picked up Hunter's voice and was clearly psyched to eventually see him again. It seemed like a small number of years since they last shared a conversation as buddies. She was so eager and thrilled to see him; she couldn't help herself but ramble on at a speedy pace.

Hunter immediately cut Elora off while he was pushing his paws forward in her direction as his way of telling her to stop talking and rambling quickly. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down, Elora! I hope you haven't been drinking too much coffee in the morning." He suddenly notices Elora holding a medium-sized, bright green bowl of warm chicken soup in her right hand and a silvery teaspoon in the other. "Um… what in the Dragon Realms are you doing?"

"I'm feeding chicken soup to one of the lifeguards." Elora replied in an unperturbed way, she dips a spoon into the chicken-flavoured, healthy fluid until she had a spoonful and feeds it into Spyro's opened mouth, feeling the liquid disappearing down his reptilian gullet. Apparently, his bout of nasty, hacking coughs stopped before he opened his small jaws to have a taste of the warm, chicken soup.

"Er… isn't chicken soup usually for people who are unwell?"

"Normally it is," Elora calmly answered, motioning her head to Spyro, who simply sniffled due to his reddish, blocked-up nose and tiny nostrils. In the midst of the chat between the Avalari residents, he turned his head to the left and proceeded to let a few productive coughs escape his reptilian lips as he coughed nauseatingly and discordantly into his front, right claw. They appeared to be coughs with expectoration of material from the bronchi and they are hoarse and wet with a hint of mucus, not to mention they are displeasing to anybody's ear. When his bout of coughs subsided, he cleared his throat while slowly regaining his composure and faced the front. "he probably needs it more than I do."

Reminiscing her from Fireworks Factory, the cat wizard approached the reddish-brown-haired, Avalarian faun until she stood on the opposite side of her and had the desire to have a chat since she was interested to know more about her. "I'm assuming you're Elora, aren't you?"

Immediately spotting a new, talking animal to make a conversation with, Elora stopped feeding chicken soup to a cold-stricken Spyro and delicately laid down the bright green bowl with the silver teaspoon inside which was lying in a diagonal position on her knees. "Why yes. I didn't quite catch your name, what is the name that you go by?"

In spite of normally being timid around strangers or creatures she never met before, Macy managed to muster up the courage to introduce herself to the brunette-haired, green, strapless shirt-wearing faun as well as telling her where she was originated from. "My name is Macy and I was born in Felinia."

"That's a lovely name. How did you know me?" Elora questioned the female cat wizard, curious to know how the diminutive feline knew her name without her letting her know what her name is.

"Spyro told me about you a few years ago in the amusement park but he didn't mentioned much about you." Macy recalled the time when she and the purple dragon were chatting to each other while they were on the pink, coaster cart in the midst of the roller coaster ride, a few years ago after the seemingly downfall of the wicked Sorceress.

However, Macy wasn't the only one who wanted learn more about the blue-eyed, auburn-haired faun. Elora also wanted to discover more about the mysterious cat wizard so she required some extra answers from her and decided to ask her another question but this time about the greatest dragon hero the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds has ever known and the agile, idiotic cheetah. "So, how did you know about Spyro and Hunter?"

"Erm… it's a long story but I don't want to bore you with the details. I'll try to shorten it. Basically, after the Sorceress came to Charmed Ridge looking for a new apprentice, I had no choice but to team up with Bianca and we were ordered to sneak into the Dragon Realms to steal all the dragon eggs. Thanks to my partner's stupidity, we got caught but despite that, we managed to obtain the eggs and returned to the Sorceress's lair in one piece. It wasn't until I met them again in Sunrise Spring and it was no surprise Hunter was stupid enough to reveal his name and his friends' names to me. That's when I started to change for the better when Bartholomew and I kept coming across each other, exchanging words. Later on after my betrayal, I had no trouble bonding with Spyro, Hunter and my other companions and together as a team, we defeated the Sorceress twice and saved the dragons from extinction." Macy exhaled deeply after explaining how she encountered her former enemies, how she keeps on bumping into Bartholomew to the point they made friends with each other, how she befriended her ex-foes, how she betrayed the Sorceress and how they defeated her, thus saving the dragons from extermination and returning all 150 dragon eggs to the Dragon Realms.

"That's an amazing and exciting story, it must be one heck of an adventure full of action, friendship and love."

"You could say that. I suppose if I didn't meet the Sorceress, none of this would have happened and I'll never be surrounded with wonderful friends, not to mention what it's like to be loved and experience life without using my magic."

Hunter spotted Spyro sitting by Elora's side on the picnic blanket, not knowing it was him and mistaking him as a typical lifeguard or a different fellow. "Saaaaaay… it's about time you've hooked up with someone!"

Failing to recognise the little lifeguard as Spyro from underneath his sunglasses, Macy didn't fancy the thought of him broken-hearted and crestfallen with grief, witnessing Elora with another guy. There's nothing more anyone hates than being cheated on by someone else. "Ooooh boy… Spyro would be very disappointed and heartbroken if he realises you found yourself a boyfriend or a new guy to link up with."

"Actually, the lifeguard _IS _Spyro!" Elora covered her mouth with both of her hands, giggling heartily to herself since Hunter, Macy and the rest of her chums scarcely recognised who the lifeguard really is.

Hunter's cheerful expression changed to a stunned, feline face, his eyes instantaneously bulge to a larger extent, doubting his best friend is also a lifeguard as well as a well loved, famous hero. "No way. I didn't see that comin'!"

"This might explain why we haven't heard anything from Spyro this morning and this afternoon." Bianca pondered, putting two and two together and came to the conclusion that the adolescent lifeguard they were chatting with turns out to be Spyro this entire time. It's like as if he was hiding his identity right under their noses or right behind their backs.

"Guys, I can explain." Spyro spoke in a slight stern tone of voice while he slowly removed his sunglasses from his eyes and he gripped tightly them in his claws. He felt ashamed, seeing as he hasn't informed his allies and his chums relating to his new part-time job as a lifeguard and his severe cold as if he actually lied to them, not notifying them where he was.

"Then fill us in." Bartholomew was egging the littlest dragon on, waiting for him to put in plain words why he was missing and was nowhere to be found in the first place.

Before telling his group of companions his account in his point of view, Spyro carefully positioned his sunspecs above his sickly, purple eyes and eyebrows on his forehead. "I was on a babysitting errand yesterday, taking care of Brian, Roxy and Hank until Gildas came over and suggested I should take on a part-time job as a lifeguard at Dragon Shores. Before he left, he handed me a leaflet advertising the job and he departed, leaving me to think. But the part-time job isn't the only thing I've got. I also got a—" He stopped in full flow of his explanation when he felt like something was tickling his diminutive nostrils. Not having the time to pull out a packet of tissues from his bag, he lift a small claw to his nose, took a ragged breath as he threw back his head and thrust his head forward, expelling a blast of searing, red-hot fire and abhorrently, gross snot suddenly, involuntarily and noisily. "AH… AHH… AHHH… AHHHH… AH-CHOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

The sudden expulsion made Hunter, Bianca, Macy and Bartholomew slightly jump in reaction to Spyro's startling, strident sneeze, throwing them off balance excluding Elora, due to the fact she was already aware of the fourteen-year-old, reptilian teen's minor ailment but the worst of it is yet to come. His buddies cautiously exchanged a glance in a concerned fashion before exclaiming out the usual words whenever a certain creature, animal or inhabitant sneezes.

"Bless you!" Elora, Bianca and Macy shouted in unison, their feminine voices combined to become one, ear-splitting voice which was deafening enough for the sick saviour of the three worlds to hear.

"_Gesundheit_!" Hunter and Bartholomew simultaneously bellowed, just to make sure the German word gets through to the fourteen-year-old teen, who is still in poor health. They clearly don't know the German language but they know that it's another way of responding to their poorly, purple pal after he sneezed.

"Thanks guys." Spyro feebly smiled, snuffling once again and expressing his thanks to Elora, Hunter, Bianca, Macy and Bartholomew in a sickly, non-drowsy mood whilst a small amount of rasping, hoarse wheezes are sent out from his miniature maw, having difficulty with breathing through his minuscule nostrils.

The ear-piercing, unexpected sneeze was followed by a series of consecutive hacking coughs that were released from his fiery but sore lungs even as he moved a clenched claw to his mouth and coughed disturbingly. They were harsh, dry and spasmodic and they are dry, painful coughs with harsh, unpleasant sounds. With each hacking cough coming out of his miniature maw, they made his group of allies and chums shudder, grimace and send unnerving shivers down their spines, due to how painful and sickening his coughs sounded. Once his bout of hacking coughs has quietened down, he removed his purple-scaled claw from his reptilian lips.

Upon looking at their cold-stricken pal, lifeguard and protector, he had seen better days and he looked exceedingly exhausted as if he hadn't slept for countless months. His eyes were watery, bloodshot and puffy and his fire-breathing glands are swollen and inflamed from the inside. To top it all off, an enormous excess of snot were seeping out of his red nose and nostrils endlessly like a crystal clear waterfall descending into a extremely, vast body of water from above.

It didn't take Hunter long enough to grasp the realisation that his best friend has recently came down with an awful cold after watching and hearing him coughing and sneezing. "Aww, crud! Don't tell me you're ill, Spyro!" He yelled in a groaning tone of voice, dismayed that Spyro's sickness has ruined his chances of having a rematch with him in one of the skate parks in the Forgotten Worlds as well as feeling sorry for the ailing, heroic protector and lifeguard.

Elora momentarily sighed in a subdued manner, feeling down in the dumps due to the feisty, overconfident hero becoming infected with a horrific cold as well as feeling sorry for him. She nodded her head, having the same opinion with her absent-minded, feline friend. "I'm afraid so. Apparently, he's been feeling under the weather since I first arrived here but I'm not sure how long he's been poorly."

"Dang… I guess this isn't the right time to ask you if we should do a skateboarding contest or not, huh?" Hunter immediately flopped his spotty, furry arms and paws down in front of his furred, supple body, still unhappy about having no choice but to cancel the skateboarding competition.

For what seemed like the umpteenth time, Spyro sniffled before he replied to the athletic, unintelligent feline. "Nope. You'll have to wait 'til I've recovered from my cold or skateboard with someone else if you're not patient." He heaved a sigh in a disappointed fashion that resulted in him wheezing a tad bit; he felt it was his fault that he spoiled their opportunity to hold a skateboarding competition in the upcoming days. "I picked the wrong week to get sick, haven't I?"

"You're telling me!" Hunter exclaimed in a moaning tone of voice for the second time, upset that he has no one to skateboard with to idle away the hours and the fact that Spyro is too sick to come to any skate park in the Forgotten Worlds with him. "How the heck am I gonna find a way to pass the time?"

Placing a finger underneath her chin while she is being deep in thought, Bianca suggested other ways for her boyfriend to kill time instead of keeping himself amused with his hobbies. "There are other ways to occupy yourself like you can always spend plenty of time with me, keep Spyro company or hang around with our friends."

Fearing about the possibilities of being ill with a minor illness if he and his friends stayed near a cold-stricken Spyro for long or brief periods of time, Bartholomew instantly brought them down with his worries. "But if any of you were planning to keep Spyro company, wouldn't you guys catch whatever he's got? Besides, he might be contagious."

"Don't worry, Bartholomew. Elora's been with me most of the time and—" Spyro assured the young yeti that the faun is out of harm's way and she fortunately hasn't caught a horrible cold from him yet. A single mucus cough was let out from his pint-sized jaws before he could finish his sentence. He covered it with a claw to prevent from spreading any revolting, gross germs. "…And she hasn't been infected yet. She's—" He stopped in mid-sentence once more when persistent hacking coughs were sent out forcefully and grossly from his oesophagus, he placed one of his small claws over his mouth to cover his hacking coughs as he coughed roughly and harshly. They are dry painful coughs that are repetitive. "She's perfectly safe."

After hearing her cold-stricken friend's constant hacking coughs for several seconds without end from earlier, Macy couldn't take it any more and she's on the verge of losing her temper. She may be a nicer person now after the ordeal with the Sorceress but she couldn't hold back the fact she's still annoyed of Spyro's discomforting coughs. Never in all her life she heard coughs that are nauseatingly disturbing, especially from the undeniable hero of the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds.

"Ugghhh! Can you stop coughing? It's getting on my nerves!" She directly bursts into an angry outburst, flying into a rage. She felt like she had the urge to tear her fur out repeatedly in infuriation or strangling her cold-stricken, reptilian chum to cease his painful-sounding coughing. However, she knew if she actually did either of those methods, it would result in losing a friend.

"I can't stop coughing, Macy. Besides, it's difficult to hold them in but if yo—" Another round of unbearable hacking coughs disrupted Spyro's speech and inconveniently were expelled from his lungs as he puts one of his puny claws over his maw to cover his hacking coughs and coughed violently. They are dry, painful coughs with harsh, unpleasant sounds. "But if you can't cope with m—" He stopped in full flow of his sentence when extra more hacking coughs were awkwardly drove out of his throat as he coughed into one of his purple-coloured claws. Unluckily, his coughs are getting even worse and worse by the second this time. After his bout of hacking coughs, he swiftly collected himself and carried on from where he left off. "…with me coughing, then take your attitude somewhere else. I'm not in the mood to start another quarrel with you today."

"Fine. If you're gonna be that way, then we might as well not be friends." Macy turned to the left and crossed her arms furiously, avoiding eye contact with the poorly, 14-year-old teenager.

Trying to not retort back to his short-tempered, cat wizard friend, Spyro calmed himself down and his expression softened from snapping back at her as he told her the truth about not fancying the idea of hearing himself coughing. "Macy, you have to try coping with me coughing and sneezing 'til I get better whether you like it or not. I'm trying my best to deal with my nasty coughs, even though I don't like hearing myself coughing."

"You don't?"

"Of course I don't like listening to my coughs. It's—" Just before Spyro had an opportunity to continue talking, yet another series of hacking coughs were awkwardly ejected from his lungs while he moved a clenched claw to his scaly lips and coughed severely and unpleasantly. They are short and frequent coughs, usually short and dry; broken coughs with rough and loud sounds. When his coughing has quietened down, he managed to regain his composure and cleared his throat. "It's painful whenever I cough like that and when I do, I cough much harder and that hurts my throat. It's like as if it's on fire from the inside. Worst of all, I can't breathe fire."

Contented that her poorly, purple pal is admitting that his hacking coughs sounds annoyingly painful and off-putting to listen, Macy glanced towards him with a satisfied smirk visible across her feminine, feline lips and placed her hands behind her back and cloak. "At least you admit they are very disturbing to hear. But that's ridiculous! You've always been able to breathe fire, why can't you do it now?" She cocked an eyebrow at the fearless, adolescent dragon, doubting the probability of him not capable of breathing fire when he is in his frail, immobilized state.

"The reason is 'cause of my sore throat and my fire-breathing glands are swelling." The young, purple dragon frowned, he pointed at his reptilian gullet and swollen glands with a small, white talon. They were signs of his symptoms and showing his team of companions and allies why he couldn't spit fire like usual.

"Uh-oh. That doesn't sound good." Hunter mumbled, stating the obvious and lowered down his voice as he uttered those words when he noticed the swollen fire-breathing glands and inflamed lungs.

"Tell me about it." Spyro assented, nodding his scaly head with a saddened expression and agreeing with Hunter. He knew that without his fire breath, he might be at a disadvantage when it comes to dealing with recurring villains and minor enemies, in order to save any world or realm. "I tried to blow out flames but all I ended up with is coughing up smoke."

"I assuming he meant by if your enemies survived and they realised you're not yourself and completely out of sorts, they'll take advantage of your ill condition and your inability of using your flame breath." Elora explained the forthcoming situation to the cold-stricken, purple creature that lies ahead of him. Deep down inside of her, the unofficial leader of the Avalari is not only deeply concerned of the dragon's well-being and safety but also what the future will bring.

Being the self-confident, feisty dragon like he always been, Spyro tried to look on the bright side of things and attempted to remain calm and relaxed, despite his mild sickness. "I may be sick but I'm not too sick to take them down and put an end to their evil plans. I've whupped their butts before and I'll do it again."

Elora shook her head in disagreement, assuming that confronting the villains and antagonists while still feeling under the weather isn't such a good idea for her ailing, fire-spewing chum. "Spyro, you're in no condition to take on any villain or bad guy at the moment. Right now, what you need is plenty of rest, especially in bed, drink lots of fluids, have a lot of Vitamin C and eat loads of vegetables and fruit. Those are the things keep you healthy while you're poorly." She listed all the important things to him that are vital to be well again and in good health.

"Maybe tonight's karaoke and luau party will cheer you up and make you feel better." A familiar, male teenage voice unexpectedly replied out of nowhere.

It just so happens that Smokey came across Spyro and his friends, which took him by surprise the moment he heard his co-worker's teen voice. He was so caught up with his discussion with his old chums, he wasn't aware of the 13-year-old, grey-skinned dragon's presence and he barely heard his footsteps and also, it's difficult for him to hear anything due to his hidden, blocked-up ears. It's like as if the sounds and voices around him in his surroundings are muted.

"Whoa, Smokey, where'd you come from?" He instantaneously turned around and jumped in surprise, not expecting Smokey's presence and almost scared the living daylights out of him.

"I was overlooking the beach on the rooftop of the watchtower after I did my paperwork and I can't help but overhear your conversation with your friends so I'd thought I let you guys in on what's goin' on tonight." Smokey gave an explanation from how he was watching over the beach from the top of the watchtower to moving towards Spyro and his comrades without noticing him. Telling by the cheerful smile across his reptilian lips, he was in a chipper mood than usual and was clearly looking forward to Friday night. He always knew that luau festivities and karaoke are two of the innumerable ways to boost up the number of sightseers, visitors and holidaymakers, not to mention attracting more tourists to the seaside from each of the various worlds and realms out there.

"Sounds li—" Unfortunately, one more round of disturbing, hacking coughs were droved out from the purple dragon's lungs as moved a clenched claw to his reptilian lips, shut his eyes firmly and coughed nauseatingly. His coughs are ear-piercing coughs that sound painful. He opened his eyes, promptly laid a claw on his chest painfully and he grimaced from the massive amount of pain caused by his hacking coughs. "Sounds like fun, Smokey. How did you know about this anyway?"

"Stanley filled me in on the activities that's going on tonight in the morning before you came in the afternoon. If you weren't so late, you would have heard the news. Oh, and we're doing a presentation on the stage before the karaoke and beach party starts but also, we're kinda still on lifeguard duty and we're gonna enjoy ourselves at the same time. It's gonna be one heck of a shindig. Our shifts usually end at night on the days we're present." Smokey went on, bringing his co-worker up to date with Friday night's activities and the different assortment of events that are taking place in full detail. The second he mentioned the karaoke and the beach party, this kind of information got the gang's attention and they perked up straight away.

On the other hand, the news left Spyro speechless and confused. He blinked in a baffled manner, having a hard time to remember all of this in his mind. "…Th-That's a lot of information to sink in, Smokey."

"Weeeeeell… that's the agenda of today's activities but the line-up of the singers and vocalists in tonight's karaoke is anyone's question." The thirteen-year-old dragon casually kept on going with giving details about what will occur in the upcoming karaoke, he knew that the singers and vocalists can be anyone, depending on who is going on stage.

"Yo, Spyro. Who is that?" Hunter asked, pointing a finger a Smokey to show who he's referring to.

As an answer to the dim-witted cheetah's question, Spyro humourlessly glowered at him after noticing him rudely directing his finger at his colleague. "It's not nice to point, Hunter." He motioned his head in Smokey's direction, indicating who he is. "Anyway, that's Smokey; he's my colleague and one of the two lifeguards who are on duty here in Dragon Shores."

"So, there's two lifeguards on duty?" Macy piped up in an enquiring tone of voice, wanting to get into the conversation or at least get into one and sort have astounded to realise that there's only two lifeguards instead of a enormous team protecting the seaside.

Spyro nodded his head at Macy as his response to her curious question. "Yep, so far it's only Smokey and me. Unfortunately, not enough inhabitants have applied for this job yet." As he said this, his smile immediately became a frown. He was aware that there aren't enough lifeguards patrolling around the beach that could be problematical and challenging for the pubescent, reptilian lifeguards if more dire dangers and emergencies are happening at once.

Wondering whom Elora, Hunter, Bianca, Macy and Bartholomew are, Smokey momentarily eyed each of them before turning to his cold-stricken, purple-skinned workmate to clear things up for him. "So, who are these guys, Spyro?"

To show who he is referring to, the purple protagonist motioned his head, gesturing to his other close friend. "Hunter, my other best friend who I met in Avalar."

"Yo, what's up? A new friend of Spyro's is a friend of mine." Hunter extended out his right, hairy paw for the pubescent, reptilian lifeguard to shake it with his left, scaly claw. Since the plucky, purple dragon and his comrades are gathered together at where the picnic basket is, they were practically sitting or standing close to one another like a cluster of companions.

A tint of red or pink visibly appeared on Spyro's cheeks while he blushed vaguely as he managed to find the courage to let his words flow out of his lips, pointing his head in the brunette-haired faun's direction but since he still has a reputation to uphold, he kept a smile plastered on his face in an attempt to hide his flushed cheeks. "Elora, another ally I also befriended in Avalar."

"Hello, it's nice to meet a fellow companion of Spyro and a new lifeguard." Elora greeted, waving at the thirteen-year-old, grey dragon with her right, human-like hand and a warm, welcoming smile was noticeable across her feminine, attractive lips.

Once again, Spyro motioned his skull to Bianca instead of using any of his claws, indicating whom he's referring to. "Bianca, the former disciple of the Sorceress who I defeated a few years ago and Hunter's girlfriend."

After the small, but tough, dragon introduced Bianca to his fellow workmate, a smile gradually appeared across her womanly, pretty lips she moved her left paw left and right repetitively as her way of acknowledging him "It's a pleasure to meet you, Smokey. I'm positive you'll be a fantastic lifeguard and a role model to us all." Upon looking at the short, grey-skinned fire-breather, she believed that he would be an excellent lifeguard and a role model to all walks of life, no matter what type of magical creature or talking animal they are.

Yet again, the cocky, confident dragon motioned his head to Bartholomew, showing whom he's talking about. "This is Bartholomew, he's Bentley's younger brother and Macy's boyfriend. He's also one of my buddies from the Forgotten Worlds."

Just like the rest of his chums, Bartholomew was the next member of the crew to welcome Smokey into their group. "Hiya, it's awesome to see a new lifeguard like you. I'm sure we'll become fast friends and we'll welcome you into our group with open arms!"

Once more, the pubescent, purple dragon motioned his cranium to Macy, pointing towards her. "Finally, that's Macy, she's one of the Sorceress' former allies, Bartholomew's girlfriend and one of my chums from the Forgotten Worlds. Just like Bianca, she's able to cast spells and she's probably still mad at me 'cause she couldn't stand hearing me coughing." At the last sentence, he was referring to Macy not being able to cope with his disturbing, hacking coughs that are more than she can bear.

As if it was a coincidence that correlates with what he mentioned previously, another bout of hacking coughs ensued due to a lot of talking to his buddies as Spyro squeezed his eyes shut tightly, moved a clenched claw to his maw and coughed violently. His hacking coughs are dry painful coughs that are repeated often and while he is coughing persistently, they sounded revolting and grew more raucously with each cough. Realising his best friend is in agonizing pain from his stomach-churning, hacking coughs, Hunter went to his side and constantly patted on his back to calm him down. After twenty seconds, Spyro's short period of hacking coughs finally quietened down before he opened his eyes and grasped onto his neck in a gargantuan amount of pain, as a result from a great deal of coughing.

For the second time, Macy lost her temper and placed her paws on her hip, the volume of her voice rises to the utmost limit with each word she spoke, exasperated with her sick friend's incessant, hacking coughs. "Hey! It's getting annoying if you're constantly coughing all the time! Can you hold them in?"

Not liking where this squabble is going, Spyro removed his claws from his neck before attempting to shout without straining his voice and glowering heatedly at Macy, who glared furiously back at him. "I can't help it. Even if I wanted to stop coughing, they can't go away by themselves. If you weren't my friend, I would have kicked you out of Dragon Shores!"

Before the disagreement gets out of hand, Bianca went in the middle and stretched out her paws outwards in an attempt to separate Spyro and Macy from each other. She grimly glanced at the residential, fire-spewing saviour and lifeguard before shifting her blue eyes at her furry, best friend and shook her head, appalled at their immature and ridiculous behaviour.

"Guys, guys! Stop quarrelling! Arguing isn't going to solve anything." Her voice became more intense to the limit even as the words that released from her mouth were getting noisier by the minute, in an attempt to raise her voice above the poorly, purple protagonist and the bad-tempered, ex-apprentice of the Sorceress.

"She started it." Spyro glowered furiously, gritting his draconic, sharp teeth. He took a deep breath and exhaled in disbelief, grumbling irritably to himself. "All we can do as a pair of friends is argue…" He hates to admit it but he was right. Every time he suffers from a bout of horrible, hacking coughs or a hacking coughing fit, Macy tends to explode into a fit of rage and an outburst all at once, seeing as she couldn't stand being in the same place as her poorly, plucky pal just to hear him coughing continuously, thus a heated quarrel between them commence.

This kind of incident was familiar to Smokey as he rolled his eyes in disbelief and was thinking to himself, reflecting on his dispute with the purple dragon from a couple of hours ago._ Talk about déjà vu. It's kinda like Spyro and I are squabbling 'cause he's too stubborn for his own good, refusing to rest in bed._

Trying to talk some sense into her bickering buddies, the rabbit girl carried on providing them with logic and wisdom as well as encouraging them to make peace and to forgive and forget about their quarrel. She always knew that two wrongs don't make a right. "Fighting isn't the answer. Sometimes, we have to settle our differences and work together. That's what friendship and teamwork is all about. Just shake paws and be friends."

Not liking the thought of making an apology to Macy, the purple-eyed, golden-horned hero and lifeguard was glaring angrily towards the cat wizard, his temper rising to the greatest extent. "Calling it truce with her with that kind of attitude? I don't think so."

Bianca was looking unsmilingly in the direction of Spyro, she was outraged and appalled by his disrespectful behaviour and not to saying sorry to Macy. "What kind of friend are you if you don't apologise to her? And here I thought lifeguards are supposed to be kind and help anyone if they are in trouble."

Spyro frowned and inaudibly grumbled under his breath, allowing his teensy wings to hang down over his body and half-heartedly giving in. "Fine." His expression softened as his temper decreased to a minimum. "Sorry if I wa—" Unfortunately, an uncontrollable series of hacking coughs were forced out of his sore lungs before he could finish his sentence while he covered his mouth with one of his purple, undersized claws and coughed grossly and repulsively. They are small and frequent coughs, usually short and dry; broken coughs with rough and loud sounds. The more he coughed loudly, roughly and harshly, the more damage was brought to his lungs. "…Was acting like a jerk to you."

Now, it was Macy's turn to apologise. However, she was scratching the back of her furred head, finding it difficult to make an apology to the headstrong, but stubborn, purple dragon. Deep down inside herself, she still couldn't stand hearing Spyro's continuous, but spasmodic, hacking coughs that tends to aggravate her greatly. "Yeah, and um… I'm sorry if I couldn't put up with your coughing."

"Shall we call it a truce?" Spyro asked, a friendly smirk was slowly visible across his scaly lips as he extended his one of his claws outward.

"I'd prefer it to be more like an everlasting peace but I guess that will do." Macy returned the smile, offered her white-coloured, furry paw to the cocky, yet overconfident, dragon.

To settle their differences, Spyro and Macy shook paws, thus ending their heated argument amongst a couple of chums. In spite of his horrific cold, the poorly, purple protector didn't suffer from another hacking coughing fit even though heaps of words flew out of his reptilian lips when he spoke.

"Phew! I'm glad that was over. I'm relieved you two are friends again." Bianca wiped her forehead with her right, white-tan paw as if she was exhausted from doing a huge excess of work or any sort of activity that requires a tremendous amount of stamina and strength, she was pleased that her two chums have resolved their differences and stopped squabbling, otherwise it took a turn for the worse and things got out of hand.

Trying to lighten up the mood or atmosphere that has brought to her circle of chums, Elora immediately leaned on the young, purple dragon's head, resting her head on his in a passionate manner whilst her hands were positioned tenderly on his neck. "Sooooo… any plans for tonight, Spyro?"

Feeling nervous and awkward with Elora enjoying his company, Spyro was stuttering and faltering in his words, a light tint of red gradually materialized on his face. "Well… um… uh… I—" Before he had a chance of saying anything, yet another sequence of horrendous, hacking coughs left his undersized maw while covered it with his right claw, coughing even dreadfully than before and they are worsening by the second. They are short, frequent, shallow and feeble coughs. "I might need to patrol the perimeter of the beach at night in case some unwanted guests sneak in uninvited but Smokey and I most likely don't have to 'cause our shifts are over for the day. Then again, Gnasty Gnorc is ancient history, Ripto is long gone and the Sorceress is dead so every—" Another dry, hacking cough expelled from his fiery lungs as he roughly and harshly coughed into one of his claws. It appears to be a dry, painful cough with a harsh, unpleasant sound but it wasn't as discordant and raucous as his previous coughs. "… so everything's a-okay."

"Well almost, not everything is back to normal. You're still sick, Spyro." Bartholomew replied, letting his plucky, fearless friend know about his current ill condition to jog his memory as if he has forgotten about his mild ailment. The youthful yeti didn't repeat this on purpose but all he is telling to him that things won't get back to the way they are if the hero of the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds is still unwell and not feeling like himself.

From what he experienced throughout his three adventures starting from saving all eighty dragons from their crystallised prisons to retrieving all 150 dragon eggs, Spyro knew that even if he made a full recovery from his horrendous cold, the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds will never revert back to normal because strange things can happen, whether if they are whimsical or utterly weird. Since he and his faithful allies have always lived in fairytale-like worlds and realms, fanciful events, embarking on amazing adventures and meeting quirky creatures or enemies are normal to them. "I know but even if I do fully recover from my dreadful cold, nothing is ever normal anyway. After all, we live in a fantasy world where anything can happen."

The brown-haired, female faun tilted her body away from Spyro after a moments rest and slowly lifting her head up from laying on his scaly cranium, resuming to feeding him. "For now, we should stop chatting. Your chicken soup is getting cold, Spyro."

Trying to keep cool, calm and collected and not letting the nerves get the best of him or take over his current emotions, the headstrong, courageous dragon decided it's best to enquire his fellow peer about tonight's proclamation. "Smokey, about our presentation… what should we say to everyone? We haven't prepared ourselves for it."

"I'm assuming Daniel or Stanley will explain more about it to us before we get on stage and tell us what we need to tell everybody. But I think you need to bring some tissues, bottles of water and fluids with you, in case you're gonna cough, sneeze and blow your nose most of the time throughout our speech. Anyway, I'm headin' back to the watchtower to have my lunch. After we finished eatin', we gotta get back to our duties. See ya later, guys!" Smokey warned, reminding his purple-scaled, fellow worker to prepare himself and take hankies, bottles of water and liquids with him in case the symptoms of his nasty cold took its toll on him in duration of the presentation.

Since he doesn't have any hands and lacked the ability to stand on two feet, he stood on all four paws and somehow waved goodbye to his newfound chums (just like when Spyro bid farewell to the Professor, Agent 9 and Elora at the island laboratory to continue his search for Hunter), departing from their sight and leaving them to their picnic and their reunion after a small number of years after the downfall of the Sorceress and every single dragon hatchling has returned to the Dragon Realms.

While his past pals engage themselves in continual chitchats and Elora feeding another spoonful of chicken soup to him and after giving this more thought, Spyro began to dwell on tonight's presentation. He didn't like the thought of having a difficult and troublesome time trying to speak out to the citizens, due to a great deal of coughing, sneezing, sniffling, blowing his nose etc. Not only will the citizens will be aware of his severe cold and notice he couldn't handle it at all, they will also know that he's a part-time lifeguard and all of this will lead to many, various consequences.

But as long as he keeps a low profile, the dragon race, a variety of magical creatures and talking animals won't know all of this and his reputation as a determined, but courageous, dragon hero won't be ruined. All he has to do is stay strong, not let his sickness get him feeling miserable and try to look forward to what Friday night has to offer, even if he has to do the presentation with Smokey.

* * *

Hopefully, I'll eventually recover from whatever I came down with. I've been through a lot such as having two blood tests (one blood test in the nurse's room at the doctor's clinic and two blood tests at a clinic in the Jordan district of Hong Kong) and gone through the ultrasound x-ray test twice (the first time at a clinic in the Jordan district of Hong Kong and the second time is in hospital back in my home country). Sometime in the future I might be going through a different examination which is something to do with a tiny needle being inserted the skin of my thyroid or neck, moving the needle around and taking it out, removing cells in the process. Obviously, this procedure is scarier 'cause I'm petrified of needles piercing through my skin that is an unpleasant experience. The name of the test is complicated 'cause of the medical words so it's hard to pronounce, I think I know what the doctor from the hospital is talking about but we don't know how to describe or say it. Now, I regret telling the majority of my friends that I've fallen ill 'cause I've made them worrying over me but I can't help but tell them what I'm up to.

I've been listening to a lot of summery songs lately such as "_Amazing_" by Inna, "_Sun Is Up_" by Inna and "_I'll Be Ready_" by Sunblock, most of the songs are clubbing floorfillers and this story has a summery feel to it 'cause it mostly takes place in Dragon Shores. When I played _Spyro 2: Gateway To Glimmer_ (_Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!_, in America's case) on my PlayStation 2, I believe there's more to Dragon Shores than just the theme park, that's why I included more things, buildings, the lighthouse and so forth in the third chapter. In my opinion, the songs that best suit the collaboration are "_I'll Be Ready_" by Sunblock, "_The Flood_" by Cheryl Cole and "_I'll Stand By You_" by Girls Aloud. Since it's still summer right now, my collab partner and I have been working on the chapters these days.

I nearly forgot to tell to all of you, I'm relieved that I eventually finished my latest video tribute to Spyro the Dragon, "_Spyromania (Extended Version)_", right before I went to Hong Kong with my family for a month-long summer vacation. Just think this video as a long-awaited sequel to my first video, "_Spyromania - Old Spyro Tribute in Night Flight_". It took me weeks and months to tweak everything, getting the wallpapers, official artwork and the images showing in time with the lyrics and get everything right. The title of the video is a combination of the classic Spyro and the fiery song, "_Pyromania_" by Cascada. The only error is I accidentally included the original version of "_Pyromania_" in the video twice, I was supposed to insert the _Clubland 17_ version (it is the same song but a bit sped up) in it so that's why the song was repeated. Unlike all of the videos I've made so far, it's the longest and the overall duration is 27:25. I've seen videos that have clips, footages or images shown in rhythm to the lyrics of a song on Youtube before (for instance, a video which is a _Super Mario Galaxy_ tribute that features the song, "_Don't Stop Me Now_" by Queen), that's what got me inspired to try to create my own videos. I'm still a beginner at making videos so unfortunately; I don't know how to add clips, footages and cutscenes inside them.

By the way, whenever Spyro was coughing in this chapter, Macy easily gets irritated since his intolerable, hacking coughs are getting on her nerves after a while and they are unbearable for her to hear which causes her to start arguments with him. This was a reference to my high school days. When the GCSE English class and I were working hard, the whole classroom was silent except for a girl (from what I remembered, she was reasonably fat) who kept on constantly coughing which annoyed everyone and her coughs were indeed hacking coughs. Instead of being sympathetic for her, some of the students asked her why she's coughing like that and a few of them are taking the mickey out of her by copying her how she coughs. You'll understand why Macy is quick-tempered and doesn't have a sense of humour when you read **Topaz16**'s "_A Yeti's Love_".

This chapter is bigger than I expected, it's much longer than the previous four chapters put together. Anyway, I bet all of you are looking forward to what's in store for Spyro and his buddies in the next chapter, huh? Well, you'll have to wait and see. **Topaz16** and I would appreciate it if any of you give us feedback and reviews, constructive criticism is fine as long as it helps us to improve our writing and no flames or negative comments please.


	6. Friday Fiesta

The original _Spyro the Dragon_ series, Spyro, Elora, Sparx, Zoe, Hunter, Bianca, Bartholomew, Sheila the Kangaroo, Sgt. James Byrd, Bentley the Yeti, Agent 9, Lila the Faun, Spinner the Faun, Krista the Faun, Sheila the Faun, Gildas, Bob, Dragon Realms, Avalar, Forgotten Worlds, Dragon Shores, Fracture Hills, other characters, realms, worlds and areas are properties of Insomniac Games, Universal Interactive Studios or Activision. Macy is Topaz16's original character and she belongs to her. Smokey the Dragon, Daniel the Dragon and Stanley the Dragon are my original characters and they belong to me. Plus, they are created exclusively for this fanfiction.

Hello again! I apologise for the extremely long hiatus but there are a lot of reasons why such as preparing for university interviews, high education courses and universities, working on my new story known as "_Facebook Frenzy: Cartoon Crossovers Edition_", writing up my Mario song fanfiction, "_All Fired Up_(named after one of the songs from The Saturdays' current album, _On Your Radar_ and the battle mini-game from _Mario Party 3_), writing up game reviews, submitting artwork, fanart and written work to deviantART, I'm still very sick 'cause of my medical condition and the list goes on. Since this year's Olympics are coming up in the future, there's no doubt the hiatus will be extended for this story and the other fanfictions.

Sorry if Spyro is a little bit out of character but this chapter is showing two sides of him; he's kind, cocky, arrogant and eager to help others in need and the next minute he's stubborn and being authoritive, yet strict at the same time, due to his occupation and the fact he's trying to keep the news relating to his part-time lifeguard job and his mild illness a secret from the public. It isn't easy for him when it comes to being in the limelight.

If you must know, Macy made a reference to the song, "_Puff the Magic Dragon_", when she is infuriated with Spyro's stubborn pride and the fact he wouldn't toss that aside which results in her calling him, "Huff the Magic Dragon", to take the mickey of him.

After watching all of the episodes of _My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic_, I feel that there is a moral message hidden within this story that would be: Even if you're sick, don't be afraid to accept help from a friend who is willing to nurse you back to health. It doesn't matter if you're not adjusted to people fretting over you or being concerned for you. Receiving help from your buddy won't hurt you and it's unwise to let your stubbornness get the best of you.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but unfortunately, Topaz16 will no longer be able to work on the collaboration with me because of her hectic schedule and she completely lost her touch on writing fanfiction, just like my previous friends. Luckily, I found a new partner who goes by the name of SoraLover1994 and fortunately, she has a lot in common with me.

You'll be glad to know that the characters from _Spyro the Dragon_, _Spyro 2: Gateway To Glimmer_ (or _Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage!_ for those of you from America) and _Spyro 3: Year of the Dragon_ will reappear in this chapter, along with Sparx and Zoe that appeared in the previous chapters.

Anyway, here's the long-awaited sixth chapter!

* * *

**Chapter 6: Friday Fiesta**

Just like any other sun-drenched day, it is indeed brisk and it is also the ideal day to continue with the picnic. As the seconds, minutes and hours elapsed, Spyro and his colossal circle of chums are halfway through it. The sun is shining, the seagulls are going about their daily business and the smell of picnic food and scrumptious hotdogs filled the humid, summery air. This is the perfect day for the tourists and the local population to put their feet up, kick back, relax and let their troubles wash away with the tide. No wonder the dragons tend to come here for a vacation, Dragon Shores is hot all year round and it is without a doubt a sunlit paradise.

The beach is almost peaceful and in solitude except for the occasional coughs, fiery sneezes, sniffling, wheezing and hacking sounds from a cold-stricken Spyro, much to Macy's annoyance. Out of all of his companions, he is the only one who is currently suffering from the symptoms of his illness. His coughs vary, depending on how hard he coughed or how worse they become as the minutes and hours whiz by. They can range from a dry cough to a hacking cough or a "barking" cough but usually whenever he coughs, they're bound to be painful-sounding, hacking coughs or horrid, "barking" coughs that were horrifically unbearable for words.

Elora blew on the chicken-flavoured liquid that filled the silver spoon to cool down the temperature of it so it would be editable. "Here comes the choo-choo train. Choo-choo! Whoo-whoo!" She uttered the words of how trains make, in order to imitate train noises as she gradually pushed the spoonful of chicken soup towards the little, purple dragon's opened mouth as if she's feeding to a baby or a child.

As the silvery spoon entered his miniature maw, Spyro's reptilian lips and red tongue touched the liquid substance before chewing it and gulping it down, the soup disappeared down his gullet. He smacked his lips with his tongue, relishing the healthy and nutritional goodness of the chicken soup.

Spyro coughed roughly a little bit, pressing a paper handkerchief to his petite maw. "Elora, I'm too old for that." He muttered in an annoyed tone, clearly not amused with the way the faun has been treating him. He sniffled pathetically in the tissue while he rocked backward as he draws in a ragged breath and lurched forward before releasing a fiery sneeze, due to the sudden force from the expulsion. "_Hachoo_!" Sheets of red, yellow and orange colours of fire, snot and air were expelled through his lungs, reptilian lips and snout, reducing his tissue to a mould of smouldering ash in the process.

"Bless you." Elora quickly rummage through the picnic basket for a pile of napkins she stuffed into it, in case the teenage dragon's coughs and sneezes worsens. The minute her hand felt the flimsy material stroking against the palm of her hand, she carefully dragged the folded napkin out handed the pubertal, winged reptile a clean, white napkin to him who feebly smiled and received it in his front, right claw in a friendly way whilst mouthing the words, "thank you", to the auburn-haired, green-clothed faun. The lifeguard teen unfolded the napkin until it's straight and there are no creases visible on it and blew his nose to remove the gooey, gross congestion that's clogging up his nostrils. "But sometimes you don't act like your age, Spyro."

"I do act like my age."

"No, you don't."

"Yes, I do."

"No, you don't."

"Yes, I do." Spyro ended the quarrel swiftly in a bad-tempered tone of voice, apparently not in the right mood to carry on with the squabble, even if the brunette-haired, female faun is messing around with him. Sure, he normally has a sense of humour but not when he feels like half-dead or completely out of it. "Elora, I'm not in the mood to carry on arguing with you."

A light-hearted giggle escaped from Elora's feminine lips as an amused smile is visible on her face. She crossed her arms; not expecting to see the day the teenage, dragon hero is surrendering for once. "Seems like the little dragon is admitting defeat. And here I thought that dragons are ferocious, fire-breathing creatures that own the skies when flying or they never give up, regardless of how gruelling or difficult the challenge, task or mission may be."

Spyro shook his head before enlightening Elora with his reason he had the desire to suddenly bring the quarrelling to an end. He knew that the more he spoke, the most likely he'll start coughing yet again. "It's not that. I don't want to start coughing again and besides, I can't breathe fire anyway 'cause I'm sick."

"Very well, I understand you do not want to continue having discussions anymore, considering you are poorly and all."

"Name o Succumbing to his sickness, Spyro turned his head away from his friends, not wanting to infect them and expelled a series of productive coughs from his blazing lungs and out his mouth, coughing into his both of his front claws. They were described as coughs with expectoration of material from the bronchi as they sounded hoarse and wet, as if they were mixed with mucus or sputum. As his watery coughs linger on, they become noisier as the volume increases bit-by-bit and sounded wetter as the sputum builds up in his throat. When his sickening coughs eventually dwindled until they entirely died down, he moved his claws away from his reptilian lips even as he composed himself and faced the Avalarian faun, starting his sentence from the beginning. "Name one reason I don't act like my age."

"You allowed me to feed you chicken soup and take care of you like a dragon hatchling." Elora stated in a matter-of-fact tone of voice as she crossed her arms, enlightening the fourteen-year-old, dragon teen with her reason why she thinks he's acting immature.

"And your point?"

"You do the silliest and irresponsible things at times, even when you're still a boy."

"Whatever." Spyro mumbled, disregarding the Avalarian faun's statement and not caring one bit. His voice instantly changed to an authoritarian tone despite his shallow, hoarse voice, referring to his part-time occupation as a beach lifeguard. "But I still act sensible and authoritive when I need to."

"I know you do when it comes to lifeguard duties. Now, open your mouth."

Elora fed another helping of chicken soup into the courageous, headstrong dragon's pint-sized jaws with the spoon as he chewed up the watery, chicken-flavoured liquid with his razor-sharp, draconic teeth into countless, tiny fragments until he is ready to gulp it down. It slowly made its way down his throat as it eases away his symptoms temporarily.

If the Avalarian, female faun wanted to spend some time with him, then now is her chance to rekindle their relationship. Either be improving their friendship bond or a relationship that's more than that. However, nursing him back to health is like tending to a patient's needs.

"Do you feel much better?" She caringly queried, in a soothing, almost seductive tone of voice in an attempt to make the adolescent hero feel at ease and free from suffering from his mild illness.

"A little better." An appreciative smile appeared visibly across Spyro's purple, reptilian lips, thankful and relieved that he doesn't need to endure any bouts of off-putting coughs for a while. "At least, I'm not coughing anymore."

"Good. 'Cause I don't wanna hear any." Macy crossed her arms in a contented way, glad that her sick friend isn't coughing for the time being. In her opinion, she thinks that Spyro's coughing sounds unpleasantly painful, but repugnant, at the same time than his sneezing most of the time.

Spyro simply glowered at her without saying a word, but he refrained himself from quarrelling with her, in case it will result in him coughing again. He frowned, feeling a tickling sensation itching his nostrils that soon developed into a fiery sneeze or perhaps more than he expected. Having no time to fumble for a handkerchief, he shifted his head away from his chums with no intention of infecting them and lifted a claw to his reddish nose. He took a ragged breath as he leaned his head backwards, preparing to sneeze.

"_Atishoo_! _Atchoo_! _Hachoo_! _Achoo_!" With each scorching sneeze, powerful torrents of red-hot, searing fire and a great deal of revolting snot were expelled unexpectedly from his nose. Despite his inability of breathing fire due to his sickness and his sore throat, smoke is billowing out from them, hinting where the flames came from. Seeing as he is a dragon, it obviously makes sense why he involuntarily sneezes out fire.

"_Gesundheit_!" Hunter and Bartholomew yelled in unity, hollering out the typical words after every time their friend released fiery sneezes involuntarily and abruptly, normally deafeningly from his throat, reptilian lips and ruddy snout.

"Bless you!" Elora, Bianca and Macy bellowed in unison, shouting out the usual words whenever their ill, fire-breathing friend sneezed.

"Four times!" Hunter added in a cheerful tone of voice, using the opportunity to brighten up the mood and taking the liberty of counting how many times the ailing, purple protector sneezed.

"Four… times…?" Bianca raised her right eyebrow quizzically at her boyfriend, not understanding what he is talking about.

"Spyro is sneezing four times so that's why I said that."

"Thanks guys." Spyro smiled in a weakly manner towards his concerned comrades and in a soft, nearly quiet voice whilst he snuffled thickly and frailly, slowly regaining his composure from the fiery expulsions. "Sorry if I'm making you guys worry your butts off about me." He apologetically frowned, feeling regretful that he made his allies fretting about him.

Out of the group of five, Bianca is the first member of the crew to speak up, in order to make her saddened, sick friend feel better and perk up his spirits. "Spyro, you don't have to apologise. It's not your fault that you've gotten sick."

"Yeah, everyone falls ill sometimes." Bartholomew added, sharing his agreement with his concerned chums and stating the obvious that is in fact true to anyone. Coincidentally, Spyro happened to mention something like this yesterday that is relevant to what the young yeti is talking about.

Although Macy is normally the reigning queen of negativity, she tried to ensure that her ailing friend isn't feeling remorseful for making his companions worrying themselves to death. "Besides, you can't beat yourself up just 'cause you're not well." Unlike her buddies, she placed her white, furry paws on her hips and sternly shot a fierce look at him as if she's scolding at him. "So, stop acting like a dragon hatchling and deal with it."

"Yeah, well, it's not like I came down with this nasty cold on purpose." Spyro snorted out a combination of grey and black smoke in irritation, crossing his arms or rather his legs, considering he didn't have any. "I'm sick and tired of being sick." He complained in a hot-headed, grouchy mood, frustrated being afflicted with the coryza, the medical name for the common cold.

Elora settled down the balmy bowl of chicken soup and positioned her hands on the purple dragon's achy haunches as she stared into his ill, but innocent, eyes, speaking in a meaningful, wise tone of voice as her way of attempting to calm him down and cheer him up. "It may be a burden to you which is something that's currently weighing on your wings but you have to bear with it, I'm afraid. It's part of life."

The conversation between Elora, Hunter, Bianca, Bartholomew and Macy is abruptly interrupted by a combination of horrid, hacking coughs and bothersome, but shallow, "barking" coughs, which were coming from a cold-stricken Spyro. They were described as dry, painful coughs with harsh, unpleasant sounds and resembled the call of a seal or sea lion. His friends swivelled their heads round to the sounds of him coughing roughly and harshly into a handkerchief he pulled from a packet of tissues in his purple bag. A few of his buddies cringed or grimaced whilst gritting their teeth whenever he coughed, due to how painful and disturbing they sounded. His coughs continued to linger on like a never-ending, repeated cycle or as if he's suffering from another hacking coughing fit and they worsened with each passing second. Not to mention, it's like his coughs never ends with any sign of stopping.

As soon as the purple dragon's horrifically, painful-sounding coughs eventually dwindled to a minimum; they left his circle of companions shaken with uneasiness. They exchanged a compassionate look with each other before building up the courage to converse with him.

After that disconcerting moment, Hunter is the first one out of the group to ask if his poorly pal is all right before shuddering uncomfortably, due to the purple protagonist's hacking coughs blaring dissonantly and stridently through the cheetah's ears. "You okay, buddy? You've been coughing like that since the early hours of this afternoon."

Towards the end of his long bout of terrible, chronic coughs, Spyro coughed up gooey, sticky sputum from his lungs and spat it into his hankie before crumpling it and dumping into his bag until he finds the time to recycle it. "I'll be fine. I've just got a very, very bad cough, that's all." He replied in a tone as if he didn't care about his terrible cold whilst he laid a claw on his chest, grimacing in intensive pain and a weak, dismal frown appeared across his scaly lips. "It's really annoying whenever I cough like this.

"Geez! Will you knock it off with your coughing and sneezing?" For the second time, Macy couldn't take it any more. The more the purple-coloured, teenage lifeguard's coughs have gone from bad to worse, the more the cat wizard is irritated. Clearly, she couldn't stand being in the same place as the poorly protagonist, just to hear him coughing and sneezing for numerous minutes without end. Sure, she's worried about him at first but as the minutes and seconds went by, she becomes infuriated with him. "It's annoying me to the brink of insanity!" An outburst from her would surely wind up into another quarrel.

"_Achoo_!" Spyro's strident, fiery sneeze is followed by a huge bout of deep "barking" coughs that are similar to hacking coughs that were released from his reptilian lips and his burning lungs as he closed his eyes tightly and coughed roughly and harshly into his purple-scaled, right claw. His barky coughs are often described as resembling the call of a seal, sea lion or a walrus. The reason he shut his eyes is to keep back the agonising pain that harmed his throat and chest to a large extent. As soon as his "barking" coughs subsided, he immediately opened his eyes before clearing his throat. "I can't help it Macy. I thought you've got— _Achew_! …gotten over not being able to put up with my coughing and sneezing."

_Eww, gross! Again with the coughs! They sound revolting! _Macy thought to herself, cringing at the same time as Spyro kept coughing painfully. "I'm trying but your coughs are too disturbing for words. Besides, they are getting really annoying if you don't stop coughing." She replied angrily, through gritted teeth even as she balled her paws into clenched fists.

"I know just the thing to make you better, Spyro. Here, this will make you feel better and relieve you from your coughs and symptoms." Elora handed a flask to Spyro which is in a shade of green which resembles a forest and inside, it contained a homemade, piping hot tea blended with honey and lemon, in order to relieve him of his painful-sounding coughs.

The sick saviour graciously received the flask in his purple-scaled claws even as a weak, barely visible smile broadened across his reptilian lips on his pallid purple face. "Thanks, Elora." Without any hesitation, he opened the top of the thermos and tipped it so it lay close to his maw and drank the homemade tea that's full of flavour, vitamins and goodness. "Mmm! This tastes wonderful! Did you make this?" He turned his attention to the auburn-haired faun, flashing a draconic, toothy smile in her direction, hinting that he relished the honey, sugary sweet flavour of the tea. He licked each corner of his lips after taking a couple of swigs from the liquid that eased him from his repetitive, but horrific, coughs.

"It's my pleasure. I'm glad you like it; a couple of sugar, honey and lemon made this tea taste just right, even for someone who's feeling under the weather at the moment." Elora simply smiled; glad to see Spyro feeling relieved and a bit better from his unbearable coughing. She felt it is her duty to repay the cold-stricken, dragon hero and lifeguard for the time he and Sparx saved Avalar from Ripto's ruthless wrath a small number of years ago. "Do you feel any better?"

"A little bit better."

"I'm pleased that you're relieved from your coughing."

After a small number of sips, Spyro returned the flask back to Elora, who received it with an affectionate smile and placed it with care on the picnic blanket, in case the lifeguard teen wants it to ease his raw throat, calm his harsh coughing and relieve him of his symptoms.

"Anyway, I gotta get back to work." Spyro sickly frowned in Elora's direction, disappointed that he couldn't stay with his friends and allies even longer. He proceeded to let out a few, dry hacking coughs from his mouth as he coughed painfully into his left, red-brown wing; due to the fact his feet were touching the sandy surface of the scorching sand. His hacking coughs are described as small and frequent coughs, usually short and dry; broken coughs with rough and loud sounds. After his nasty, hacking cough attack ended, he slowly regained his composure and continued from where he left off. "I don't want my employer and my coach find out that I'm socializing with you guys."

"On second thought, you should take this with you in case your lungs act up and your coughs worsens." Elora sympathetically pushed the thermos back to Spyro, in case his shallow, rough coughing occurs for the umpteenth time or the symptoms of his severe cold took their toll on him. "It is supposed to be for myself but I believe that you'll need it more than I do." She smiled compassionately in the young hero's direction, understanding that he'll probably suffer a lot more without drinking any hot fluids and putting her needs in front of his.

"Thanks, I really appreciate it." A weak smile is instantly visible across Spyro's lips, expressing his gratitude to the Avalarian faun. "But yo His words were then interrupted by a combination of persistent, but unbearably stomach-churning, hacking coughs and "barking" coughs whilst he constantly coughed into one of his teeny wings. Unfortunately for him, they were getting louder and worse by the second. He coughed so roughly and harshly to the point it is like he's coughing up a lung and his coughs left a disgusting taste in his mouth and on his dark red tongue that caused him to gag or retch. Before his cough attack could carry on, he quickly cleared his throat and composed himself. "But you really don't need to give it to me."

"I insist! You deserve to have it but if you want a refill, just let me know.

"Thanks, Elora. It's so generous of you." The poorly, purple protector kind-heartedly grinned, expressing his thanks to the green-clad, unofficial leader of the Avalari and thankful for her being there in his time of need ever since she first arrived at Dragon Shores. In case he needs to quench his thirst or calm his continual coughing, he deposited the flask in his bag. "If you guys need me, I'll be at my lifeguard chair."

And with that, he tiredly made his way back to the lifeguard chair to continue with his duties. Once he reached the bottom of the chair, he clutched the ladder with his minuscule, white talons and ascended it until he gets to the top. He made himself comfortable and swung his bag over the right side of his chair.

He bent over and moved one of his claws into his bag, searching for his binoculars. By the time he found it, he dragged it out and hung it over his neck that lay resting on his chest. Before he had a chance to look through it, a hacking cough attack ensued as he coughed roughly and harshly in short and repeated spasms, into one of his claws. Unfortunately, his coughing refused to go away whilst he squeezed his eyes shut firmly, holding back the piercing pain as each painful-sounding cough shook him violently and wracked his small, but short, frame. The more he coughed harder, the more his throat and fire-breathing glands hurt to an enormous extent.

Meanwhile, his cluster of companions looked up at him with concern and sympathy that were clear in their eyes and expressions, feeling sorry for him having to put up with a minor sickness such as the common cold. Even though a cold is a mild illness, they couldn't bear to watch their friend, saviour and lifeguard suffer.

* * *

As the day begins to draw to a close and so did Spyro's coughing but for now. It is only a matter of time until the karaoke and beach party is about to commence. The sky is painted in a mixture of bright, hot colours such as an assortment of reds, oranges, yellows etc. Most noticeable is the reasonable large, reddish-orange ball of illuminating light the inhabitants call the sun, hovering in the horizon. The waves are giving off radiation from the sun's unforgiving, scorching rays and the salty water is glistening in the sunlight. Since the waves were unusually serene, they were barely undulating in rhythm with the sheer force of the seawater.

If only he could allow his troubles and stresses to wash away with the tide but what with all the things he has to handle which includes enduring the suffering of his cold, it won't be easy for him.

"Ugh… I thought I could never stop coughing." He groaned to himself, his voice is already slurred which is a sign of his horrible, hacking coughs and his sickness affecting it. He exhaustedly leaned back on his chair as he gently placed a claw on his chest, delicately soothing and caressing it as if he's trying to relieve himself of the pain. "My throat is killing me."

"You okay, mister?" A random young, bright green dragon asked worriedly, standing before the sickly, purple dragon with a colourful beach ball in his claws. In fact, the green-coloured child is remained still below the white, towering chair but he's barely the same size as the little, purple-scaled lifeguard, most likely had the similar stature to the dragon hatchlings.

"I'll be all right, I just got an annoying tickle in my lungs that refuses to leave."

"He'll be fine, sweetie. Lifeguards are usually strong when it comes to dealing with tough situations." An emerald-scaled, adult dragoness tenderly placed a grownup-sized claw on one of the little boy's haunches, causing him to gaze up to his mum with innocent, child-like eyes. "I am terribly sorry about that, sir. My son's usually distracted whenever he notices that something is wrong." She gave the ailing, 14-year-old teenager an apologetic look, feeling guilty that she might have sidetracked him from his lifeguard duties.

Still feeling weak as if he didn't feel like doing anything on this particular day, Spyro snivelled feebly, sniffing in the runny, glutinous mucus that dribbled down his nose and made a snorting sound in the process as he did so. His sickness may be getting him down but he's determined to keep his cool. "No worries. Nothing is wrong with me at the moment so I'm okay."

"Are you sure about that, sir?

"Of course, I am. Why wouldn't I be?" Spyro assured the vacationing dragons with his usual cocky, arrogant attitude, attempting to keep the pain from his illness under wraps. He coughed faintly into one of his small, purple claws before letting the dragoness know about the beautiful sunset and the approaching nightfall. "But you should get going 'cause the sun's about to set, unless you're planning on sticking around for the beach party tonight.

Wondering how the poorly, heroic lifeguard and protector had knowledge relating to tonight's beach party, a curious question struck the emerald-tinted, adult dragoness, seeing as no one has notified her about it. "I've never been told about this, where did you hear it?"

"My colleague informed me of what's going on tonight."

"I'll be looking forward to it.

"Just make sure you and your family stay out of trouble."

"I will, sir. Farewell and take care of yourself!"

"See ya.

Regardless of how rotten he's feeling at the moment, Spyro still had some strength within him to wave bid the dragon family farewell with a poorly, feeble smile spread across his scaly lips and resume to his lifeguard responsibilities and tasks. He brought the binoculars to his drowsy, sagging eyes and looked through them to keep an eye on the activity that's occurring on the sea and the seaside. He shifted his directions left and right constantly and slowly simultaneously. So far, there's not a single trouble or dire danger in sight. In the midst of observing the beach from the comfort of his chair, he would stop watching over the seashore to cough into his claw, sniffle nasally, letting out fiery sneezes from his reddened nose and wheeze every now and then.

Even though he is stubborn most of the time, he bent his neck and head down, in order to root through his bag for the flask his brunette-haired faun lends to him. After a small amount of moments search, he dragged out the container from within his bag and held the curved handle, in his mouth.

He decided to make his way to his friends to check up on what they are up to, in order to see if they got themselves into a dilemma and to get a refill for the flask Elora handed to him as an act of kind-heartedness and sympathy. He grabbed his bag and swung it over his haunches, head and small body before clutching the ladder of the chair and climbed down the steps that lead to the bottom. His feet touched the roughness of the scorching sand and walked along the surface in an en route to where his friends are mingling about.

His companions perked up the moment they caught a glimpse of him approaching them and when they listened to the sound of little footsteps. If they didn't hear his footsteps just now, his snivelling, coughing, sneezing, hacking or wheezing sounds would have caught their attention easily instead and be aware of his presence.

Out of the group of five, Hunter is the first one to ask his best friend if there's something wrong with him, other than his mild sickness. "What's the matter, Spyro?

"I just came here to replenish the flask Elora gave to me, it's nearly all gone." Spyro filled his chums in on why he returned to them as he leaned down his head and undersized neck to released his grip on the handle of the flask, which allowed it to settle down on the ground. "Also, I came by to check on you guys to make sure nothing terrible happened." He added, knowing that he's responsible for overseeing the safety of the users of the watery depths of the sea and the tropical beach. "So, did anything happen?

"Not that we know of." Bianca plainly stated, before gazing out to the cool, but calm, sea, observing the residents minding their own business and being caught up in their activities such as surfing, playing with a frisbee or a beach ball, being occupied in a game of volleyball, having a picnic, sunbathing, lying peacefully in the sun working on their tan and so forth.

"Unless either of us drowned in your absence." Macy muttered inaudibly, saying the opposite and attempting to put a damper on the purple-scaled, yellow-underbellied dragon's day as well as discouraging him.

"That's really uncalled for. Very funny, Macy." The golden horned, reddish-brown winged reptile had on an expression that says, "Whatever", on his reptilian face as if he dismissed her unhelpful statement. Practically, his half-closed eyes showed the similar emotion. He then shook his head, disagreeing with her uncooperative words. "You shouldn't be saying the worst or it will happen.

"I meant exactly what I said.

"Macy, you're the reigning queen of negativity." Spyro rolled his bloodshot, watery and puffy eyes sarcastically, clearly unimpressed with the cat wizard's unsupportive comments and countering with a witty remark of his own.

"I suppose I'll take it as a compliment." Macy replied in a sort of tone that sounded like as if she didn't mind being insulted, shrugging off the remark.

"We're more concerned about you than our safety." Elora said in a soothing, but sympathetic, tone of voice, as she promptly settled her feminine, human-like hands on the purple protector's haunches as her way of showing her concern and feeling pitiful for him.

She momentarily removed her feminine hands from Spyro's haunches and rummaged through the picnic basket for another flask that contained another helping of the tea that is mixed with honey and lemon, combining into a healthy, nutritional liquid until she came across it in her search without making a complete mess inside her basket. Unlike the thermos she offered to the courageous, arrogant hero, the container is in different tone of green that is more like in a lighter shade. Without a moment to spare, she dragged it out of the basket before opening the white-coloured, circular lid in a clockwise motion and tipped the flask in a slanting position so the contents poured into the other thermos the purple, reptilian redeemer is fumbling in his claws, due to having no opposable thumbs. He managed to clutch it safely before it slipped from his tiny, white-tinted talons.

"Look, I appreciate all of you are worrying your heads off about me, but I'm seriously fine. And there's no way I'm letting a cold get me down." Spyro simply scowled in his allies' direction, repressing his infuriation within him and suppressing the persistent tickles in his fiery, but uncomfortably sore, lungs, on the verge of coughing. "I've endured dreadful things throughout my whole life since my childhood, vanquished villains, embarking on epic adventures and you don't see me fretting about an itty bitty illness like that." He ranted in an aggravated manner as if his illness isn't a big deal and disregarding it, seething through his teeny nostrils.

"Spyro, the reason we're worried is because we're looking out for you. That's what friends are for. You know that, don't you?" Bianca's cerulean eyes met her friend's angry, but poorly, eyes whilst allowing her words to slow down and trying to reason with him in a soft, sweet and slightly stern tone of voice as if she is attempting to lulling him.

Spyro, on the other hand, basically just didn't respond to the bunny as if he is left speechless and continued to glower heatedly in his comrades' direction. Unfortunately for the rabbit girl, her reasoning didn't get through to him. Although, he tends to deny that he is wrong. His expression went from an infuriated glare to a saddened frown, his face began to soften even as he gazed downward and avoiding eye contact. Deep down, he still refused to reveal his answer and engaged in a conflict with himself, choosing whether to reply or not.

Supervising the beach or hanging about with his faithful buddies will have to wait when he noticed a dragonesque silhouette approaching him. To get a closer look, he hoisted the binoculars to his purple eyes and gazed through them. It turns out that his colleague is moving towards him from the watchtower with a chipper mood; compared to his sad, sickly one. The grey-scaled, male dragon's left little footprints behind him that were printed in the sandy surface of the sand with each step he makes as he draws near to his destination.

"Hey, Spyro! We should get going, we have to meet up with Daniel on stage to practice for our presentation." Smokey enthusiastically scurried to where his cold-stricken partner is, clearly overexcited about the approaching shindig that's looming near. He couldn't contain himself but his excited expression immediately turned to one of worry as soon as he noticed Spyro's bloodshot, ill eyes, reddened snout and pallid purple face as if the purple colour actually drained from it. To top it all off, darkened bags accompanied his fatigued eyes and his face is flushed with redness visible within his complexion. "Are you sure you'll be okay for our speech? You've been coughing like this since this afternoon." A concerned, but empathetic, frown is upon the 13-year-old, winged reptile's face, becoming aware of his colleague's coughs is already going from bad to worse by the second.

"I'm fi A dry, hacking cough abruptly expelled from the poorly, purple protagonist's throat before he could finish his sentence. However, it's much noisier and terribly painful-sounding than the last time he coughed harder. Sick and tired of being asked the same question over and over again, he heaved a sigh that resulted in him wheezing a tad bit from having difficulty of breathing through his red, snot-filled nose. "I'm fine and what makes you say that?

As much as it hurts for him to say it, Smokey couldn't help but cringe and gritting his razor-sharp, draconic teeth, remembering those horribly awful, hacking coughs and "barking" coughs blaring through his hidden ears from outdoors. Those insufferable noises reverberated off the towering cliff, bounced off the icy cold, undulating waves of the sea and echoed across both sides of the beach. They were so discordant; he is able to listen to the unpleasant sounds from outside while he is working incredibly hard with his paperwork inside the building. Obviously, those nauseating noises were coming from his coughing colleague. "I can hear you continuously coughing from outside the watchtower."

"My coughs couldn't be _that_ bad, could they?" Spyro grimaced, he realised how off-putting and horrible his coughs have become as the minutes, seconds and hours whizzed by as well as how horrendous they sounded which can throw anyone off balance.

"Well… I've never heard anyone coughing _this_ disturbingly 'til I met you. But let's not go off the subject, have you got your belongings ready?"

"You be— _Atishoo!_" Just before he had a chance to answer his colleague's question, the fourteen-year-old, purple dragon quickly pulled out a blank, white handkerchief from his packet of tissues and covered his red-coloured (due to his severe cold) nose. He leaned back his head whilst he suddenly intakes air and immediately threw forward his head, forcing a powerful torrent of flaming fire, a great deal of perfectly revolting snot and air from his nose and nostrils, thus reducing his hanky to a mound of black ashes. "You bet I have." He feebly muttered, snivelling after he collected himself from the sudden, strident expulsion.

"_Gesundheit_." Smokey cringed, responding after his co-worker let out an ear-piercing, blaring sneeze. Spyro's scorching sneeze nearly threw off the grey-tinted, 13-year-old dragon; not expecting the sudden expulsion since the plucky, purple protagonist hasn't sneezed in more than a while.

"Now that I think about it… if a party is going on tonight, what if people decided to swim in the ocean during the night and you guys weren't there to provide supervision?" Elora mulled over to herself, as a question strikes her as if she grasped the realisation from nowhere and trying to change the subject, moving the conversation on to a pressing matter.

"You guys sh— _AH-CHOO_!" Spyro promptly sneezed once more into his handkerchief, which reduced to smouldering ash in the process before he snivelled nasally. "…Shouldn't worry, the beach will be closed to stop anyone fr Unfortunately for him, a round of productive coughs prevented him from speaking even further as he continued to cough into his hygienic, white tissue he yanked out from a pocket-sized packet of tissues from his purple-hued bag. They are coughs with expectoration of material from the bronchi and they are wet and hoarse with a hint of gooey, but glutinous, mucus. Moments later, he composed himself after recovering from his extensive bout of watery, but highly repulsive, coughs that sounded displeasing to an exceedingly extent. "…from swimming in the ocean or playing here. Right, Smokey?"

"Absolutely." The thirteen-year-old, grey-scaled youth nodded with a contented smirk, indicating agreement with his poorly, fellow worker and idol.

"Excuse me? Do any of you guys know where the lifeguards are?" An unknown, male voice enquired in a polite manner, attempting to get the adolescent lifeguards' attention by increasing the volume of his voice above the commotion coming from the valiant, but ill, reddish-brown winged redeemer and his chatty circle of chums.

Spyro and his team of allies turned to the source of the voice, which belonged to an interviewer who goes by the name of Bob, the director and the media. They were so occupied in their chitchat; they hardly noticed the press standing patiently beside them, the lifeguard chair and the recycling bin. Out of the crew, the young, purple dragon made himself known and raised his low, husky voice without trying to damage it.

"We're right here, we're just off duty at the moment." Spyro replied in a feeble, hoarse voice, answering the interviewer's question and pointing a single white talon at himself and his colleague, gesturing to who the lifeguards are. "Can I He let out a deep, rough cough as it wracked his yellow-tinted chest and he coughed into his right, purple claw to prevent any gruesome germs from spreading. He immediately collected himself after he coughed. "Can I help you?" Unfortunately, numerous strange tickles were irritating his throat that soon developed into a bout of dry, hacking coughs and bad, "barking" coughs as he continued to cough in short, dry and spasmodic bursts, into his right, purple claw.

Since the 14-year-old, young lifeguard's constant, but annoyingly disturbing, hacking coughs and "barking" coughs were unbearably painful to hear, Bob cringed with every hacking cough and "barking" cough which were released from Spyro's reptilian lips and felt ill at ease near him. Since the coughs were unbearably sickening, the horrendous sounds chilled their spines to the bone. After that disconcerting moment since Bob isn't expecting one of the lifeguards to cough painfully, he managed to spoke up. "Yes, in fact. Have you seen Spyro, sir?

As soon as the interviewer mentioned his name, an uninviting chill ran down the poorly, purple protagonist's spine and chilled him to the bone. Before he could answer, several "barking" coughs were forced out of his fiery lungs. "Not re Another dry cough suddenly escaped from his reptilian lips before he had a chance to finish his sentence. After he coughed, he slowly collected himself. "Not really. Try looking fo— _Atishoo_!" He suddenly sneezed for the umpteenth time; luckily he covered his mouth and snout with a tissue he took out from a packet of hankies from his purple-coloured bag to prevent himself from infecting the director and interviewer. "…for him in the amusement park, maybe those Gnorcs could help you." He lied, trying to cover up his whereabouts and his identity from the press.

"Bless you. Thanks for your help, sir."

"No pro Quite a few dry, hacking coughs wracked Spyro's body and chest while he moved a clenched claw to his mouth and coughed roughly and harshly into it. His hacking coughs are described as repeated painful coughs with unpleasant sounds. Before he had the urge to cough again which appears to be the umpteenth time, he instantly cleared his throat and regained his composure. "No problem, I'm glad to help."

Coming to the conclusion that one of the local lifeguards might be poorly due to hearing him coughing more than he sneezed; Bob cocked an eyebrow, not expecting the ailing lifeguard and hero to cough, let alone sneeze and suspecting that he got infected with an illness. Telling by his tone of voice, he's worrying out of his wits, regardless of the fact he doesn't recognise the ailing lifeguard and unable to distinguish him from his latest get-up. "You're coughing a lot! Are you catching a cold or the flu, mister?

"N-no! I-I'm fine." Spyro began to stutter and falter in his words when he realised the media were getting suspicious of him not feeling well. Trying to keep his cool, he relaxed himself and smiled, attempting to conceal his pain from his mild illness. If the press finds out that he couldn't handle being unwell with a cold, this kind of news will smear his reputation. "I've just got some strange tickles in my throat.

"If you say so." Bob nodded half-heartedly, unconvinced that the cold-stricken lifeguard and liberator is feeling all right, for now. However, deep down in himself he is still suspicious that one of the local lifeguards has fallen ill. "We'll see you soon!" These were his last words for the day before he and the other reporters departed from the seaside.

"If you wa Yet another series of unbearably, unpleasant hacking coughs and barky coughs wracked the young, purple-scaled lifeguard's yellow chest and body to an exceedingly large extent as he coughed disturbingly and loudly into one of his claws. They are described as small and frequent coughs, usually short and dry; broken coughs with rough and loud sounds. When his hacking cough attack and "barking" cough attack subsided, he heaved a sigh and immediately composed himself, in order to relieve himself from his bout of terrible coughs. "If you want any help, just let me know." As he said this, he gave out a small, but faint, cough.

"Of course, sir."

And with that, the interviewer and the press turned to the right and made their way out, departing from the beach and making an en route to the amusement park. As soon as they were utterly out of sight, the young hero wiped his forehead with one of his purple, petite claws with relief, realising that the close is clear.

_That lifeguard's been acting strange, it's like as if he's trying to hide something from us. First, Spyro's gone missing and now, that lifeguard's constantly coughing and sneezing as if he came down with a sickness and says that he's okay. Something's amiss here, I know that he's sick and we're going to get some answers from him at some point in the future. _Bob thought to himself as he rubbed his chin with a humongous claw as he walked with every step he made, suspecting the youthful lifeguard as Spyro and assuming he might be hiding secrets from him and the interviewers as well as wondering why he's trying to be discreet about his severe cold, his whereabouts and his part-time occupation as a beach lifeguard.

Hunter couldn't help himself but be curious about what's going on between his best friend and the reporters. "Yo, Spyro! What was that all about?"

"I can't risk the press knowing my identity and my location, let alone my sickness. I almost succeeded in concealing my secrets, if it weren't for the tickles in my throat that caused me to cough every five seconds." Spyro sickly frowned; referring to the fact he nearly failed in keeping his illness, his whereabouts and his identity a secret from the media and the interviewers due to his painful-sounding coughs and fiery sneezes. "I still have a reputation to uphold, remember?

"Just forget about your rep for one day, tonight's party will make everything all right." Smokey said in a witty tone of voice, trying to cheer his celebrity co-worker up, in order to make him stop thinking about the media and his reputation.

Spyro immediately shot an icy, hostile glare at his optimistic workmate, his words making the dilemma sound so simple to overcome. "Easy for you to say, you don't have a swarm of reporters and the paparazzi stalking you." Telling by the purple dragon's tone of voice, he's already stressed out about his predicament. Not only does he have to suffer from his very bad cold, he also has to keep a low profile since his reputation is on the line.

"Well, that's one of the downsides of the limelight for you."

"Smokey's right, just turn that frown upside down. Besides if you continue to dwell on your situation, it will make your cold even worse than it already has." Elora nodded, indicating agreement with the grey-scaled, 13-year-old lifeguard and providing her sick, dragon friend with moral advice as if she's actually the voice of reason.

"Yeah, we don't want a worrywart on duty." Smokey nodded, indicating agreement to the Avalarian faun's wisdom. When he mentions the word, "worrywart", he refers this to the teenage, heroic dragon.

"Very funny, Smokey." Spyro muttered, his face wore a blank expression while his bloodshot, watery and puffy eyes were half closed, looking in Smokey's direction in an expressionless manner. Obviously, he isn't impressed with the seemingly funny remark his workmate made. He then proceeded to cough painfully into a white, fragile handkerchief, pressing it to his mouth. His coughs are described as dry, painful coughs with harsh, unpleasant sounds, however they were louder, rougher and harsher than before due to the fact he hasn't coughed in a while. "Ugh… my coughs are wracking my body.

"Drink some water or fluids, it will make ya feel better."

To stop his horrible coughing, the poorly, purple protagonist turned the lid of the flask in a clockwise motion before taking a sip from it and as he felt the fairly, piping hot liquid slowly slipping down his lungs until it sinks to the bottom. His red tongue smacked his lips, savouring the taste of the homemade tea that is blended with lemon and honey from a flask that Elora lends to him out of her kindness and sympathy. Not only did the warm liquid get rid of his nasty, continuous coughs, it also soothed his throat, eased him from his symptoms and remove the nauseating tastes his horrendous coughs left on his tongue that made him sick to his stomach.

"Feel any better?" Smokey enquired in a sympathetic manner, craning his neck to meet the purple protagonist's sickly, tired gaze. He felt as if his strength is sapped from him and he isn't in the right mood to do anything, whether it's active or not.

"Yeah… at least, my coughing quietened down for a while." Spyro smiled in a feeble manner, heaving a sigh of relief. For a second there, he thought he could never stop coughing. It's bad enough the air composition at the beach is worsening his coughs. "You gu An ear-piercing, strident hacking cough expelled from his blazing, but terribly sore, lungs and miniature maw without warning. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to react that he didn't manage to cover his mouth. "You guys comin' with me to the party?

At hearing this question, Smokey, Elora, Hunter, Bianca, Bartholomew and Macy exchanged an uncertain, but sympathetic, look with one another before shifting their eye contact to their poorly, purple-coloured pal.

"Are you sure? What if the symptoms of your awful cold takes their toll on you?" Bartholomew questioned worriedly, dreading that the purple protagonist's illness may take a turn for the worse with each passing minute and hour. Concern is evident in his voice and within his miniature, green eyes.

"Guys! I'll be fine! Can we not dwell on that?" Spyro instantly shot a cold, angry stare at each of his fretful friends, fed up with their sympathy for him while he attempted to yell at them without straining his voice. It didn't take long for his purplish, scaly face to soften, relaxing his haunches whilst his temper toned down to the lowest level. He's not used to his mates being empathetic for him but he knew it's unwise to stay mad at them for a long, extensive period of time. "You don't need to worry. C'mon, let's go."

Before they depart for the party, Elora made a gesture with her feminine hand by moving it back and forth, gently motioning her friends to get off the sizeable, flimsy blanket they were occupying. As careful as she is, she folded the blanket repeatedly, with the purpose of decreasing the size of it before depositing it, the utensils, silverware, bowls, transparent glasses, forks, knifes, colourful cups, a box of matches she made use of not too long ago, flasks which were full of fluids and other objects and food she brought with her into her basket. To ensure she packed away everything, she counted, checked and listed the items she remembered she carried in her head as her sapphire eyes dart in every direction. Satisfied with her good organization, she simply nodded her head with a smile curled across her luxurious, lovely lips; confirming she is ready to set off for the beach jamboree with her companions.

Spyro led the way with Smokey and each of his friends following him in an en route to where the shindig will take place. The only thing that's on their mind is what the party will bring. Sure, he's eagerly looking forward to the fiesta as much as they are but with the worries and the stresses that are burdening him, not to mention suffering from his severe cold every so often, he couldn't enjoy the party even if he wanted to. However, that doesn't mean he can't try to make the most of it and maintain his self-control.

* * *

Night time soon fell and it wouldn't long until the beach party and the karaoke stage is all set. The sky is painted with various hues of dark blues and dark colours and multitudes of twinkling stars glittered all over it.

Across the beach, innumerable towering, black poles are dotted all over the almost darkened area with brightly, multicoloured lights shimmering in the darkness of the night. There were so many, it's difficult to calculate the total of lights. Speaking of the colours, they ranged from the lightest hues to the darkest tones of the rainbow. They were suspended from the black wires that were attached to the poles and these decorative lights were there to breathe life and liven up the atmosphere of the party.

A couple of feet away from the stage is a buffet table, which is located on the left side of the endless array of tables concealed in white, flimsy fabric or material that were made from the finest silk in all of the Dragon Realms and wooden chairs. The buffet table is filled to the brim with plates of succulent food from party or fast food (such as crisps, chips with an assortment of bowls filled to the top with different kinds of sauces to dip into, cake, fruit-flavoured jelly, pepperoni pizza or any other pizza topped with varied toppings and flavours etc) to cuisine, a see-through fruit punch bowl with a silver spoon capable of dipping it, in order to get a spoon full and pouring the fruity liquid into different containers and a selection of drinks which were laid out neatly in rows for the visitors, partiers and residents to stuff their face with and guzzle down, silverware and utensils were neatly positioned close to the dishes and translucent glasses. Basically, it's a smorgasbord of food as far as the eye can see.

The stage is an incredible sight to behold and is recognised as one of the indescribable tourist attractions of the seaside, which the dragons are tremendously proud of. It is in a shape of a dragon that symbolise the main natives of the Dragon Realms that spanned across the top segment of the beach and take up most of the space. The wingspan of the wings is the size of a football pitch and it provides enough room for the fire-shaped LCD screens to fill up. The large sections of the stage can move including the circular central portion of curved LED screens (that is located at the centre of the stage), which can be moved to effect and allow each song to have a different feel. Not to mention, the colours and the screen visuals alter on the LCD screens, depending what song is being played. The extremely long, tail part of the stage is the extensive section where the singers can walk along and interact with the audience. At each corner of the horns, talons, wings and the face, this is where the pyrotechnic mechanisms and special effect smoke, fog and haze machines are situated. As for the stairs, each one can be seen at every end of the legs and arms. Speaking of the flight of steps, they are short in height and are painted in warm colours that represent fire. Even though the stage is in a silhouette of a dragon, there are no detailed features on the face such as eyebrows, pupils in eyes, nostrils, snout etc. An array of stage lighting contraptions which were attached on a batten are suspended above the stage ranging from ellipsoidal reflector spotlights, fresnel lanterns, stage lights, parabolic aluminised reflector lights, strip lights, ellipsoidal reflector floodlights, moving lights, LED stage lights, house lights and work lights and so forth. To put it simply, a rig of 2,300 light instruments of each type is operated during the performances. To bring the performances to life, a myriad of pyrotechnic devices and special effect smoke, fog and haze machines are positioned at each corner of the stage in order to enhance the shows dramatically, create special effects, make lighting and lighting effects visible and lastly, create a specific sense of mood or atmosphere to suit a particular song. Finally, the outline of the dragon-shaped stage and the entire surface are coated in a combination of assorted hues of red from the lightest shade to the darkest. Upon looking at the stage, overall it is up to modern standards. Some might say the stage in Dragon Shores rivals the one from Idol Springs from the Summer Forest homeworld in Avalar and truly puts it to shame.

To accompany the thrilling atmosphere of the shindig, the sounds of blissful screaming, enthusiastic chatting from dragons and magical creatures, young and old alike, filled the air including the occasional, abysmal coughs, fiery sneezes, sniffling, wheezing and hacking sounds from a certain cold-stricken dragon hero. Since the party hasn't officially started, no dance music or floorfiller songs are blaring out of the large, black speakers that were positioned near the stage.

"Awesome! Whoever set up this shindig must have gone all-out here, what do ya think Spyro?" Smokey's eyes light up with excitement, letting them slowly wander whilst taking in the lively scenery around him. He turned to his workmate for his approval and opinion. His excitement immediately changed to an emotion of alarm and became panic-stricken the instant he seen the poorly protector suffering from yet another cough attack. Yet this one is much dreadful than the previous one. "Spyro! Are you all right?"

Spyro gradually moved his head and neck upwards from his crouched position after doubling over from his continuing coughs. "Yeah, I'm okay." He managed to let his words flow out of his reptilian lips, after a round of shallow, wracking coughs violently shook his body and gazing in Smokey's direction with drooping, sickly eyes. "It must be the dry night air that's making my coughs worse.

"You're not suffering from another coughing fit, are you?"

"Heck no. I've already gotten over that."

"No offense, but you look half-dead."

"Oh sure, you have to bring that up, why don't you?"

"How about we change the subject? What do you think of the layout of the party?

Unfortunately, Smokey's question didn't reach the purple dragon's invisible ears when the stage caught his attention as if the question became a blur to him. There's just something about it that tickles his fancy, his adorable, purple eyes glistened with excitement. Besides the luau and the rest of the celebration, this is where all the magic happens. And by the word, "magic", as in belting out songs and performing in front of the enthusiastic audience.

_It wouldn't hurt to show everyone what I'm capable of, besides skateboarding, snowboarding, lifeguard duties and saving the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds on a daily basis. _Spyro thought to himself, his purple, fatigued eyes were gawking at the stage that is standing before him. Oh, how he longed for the stage if only he isn't feeling under the weather and the fact his denial of his love for singing is preventing him from ascending the stage to reveal his secret talent to his companions, allies and inhabitants.

"Spyro, snap out of it!" Smokey's adolescent, deafening voice snapped the purple-scaled, mythical creature out of his daydream-like trance.

"Huh?" Spyro shook his head, in order to return to reality from losing himself in deep thought and met his colleague's gaze with sagging, poorly eyes as if he didn't have enough sleep for countless months. He wouldn't be able to fall asleep anyway even if he wanted to because of his painful coughs, scorching sneezes, sniffling, hacking and wheezing.

Noticing that his fellow worker is getting sidetracked, Smokey arched an eyebrow at him, not grasping the idea of why he's taking an interest in the stage all of a sudden. "I don't know what's on your mind right now but what's so interesting about the stage?"

"N-Nothing! I-I'm not g-gonna sing, if th-that's what you're implying." Spyro stammered, faltering in his words whilst failing to keep his secret relating to his hidden talent under wraps. If his fellow worker discovers his secret, he'll never hear the end of it… or so he thought.

"Whatever, sometimes you can be so weird. Let's find our friends. I'm sure they're waiting patiently for us."

And with that, the two male lifeguards made their way to their colossal circle of chums that were awaiting their arrival, depending on how many of them are attending the party. Due to the throbbing sensations in Spyro's haunches, shoulders and legs that proved to be a problem and a burden for him, he and Smokey had no choice but to take their time.

By the time they arrived at their destination, yet another cough attack ensued as Spyro elapsed into a chain of continuous, hacking coughs wracked his short, but small, body whilst they shook it with each cough. They were described as dry, painful coughs with harsh, unpleasant sounds. The more he coughed, the more harsher, rougher and painful they sounded as the seconds elapsed. As his hacking coughs progressed, he covered his reptilian lips with one of his claws while squeezing his eyes closed, in order to hold back the pain. Once his bout of hacking coughs diminished until they are absolutely gone, he opened his bleary, sleepy eyes before forcing a feeble, groggy smile in his comrades' direction to make it look like he is all right and to hide the pain he experienced.

Sitting (or floating in Sparx and Zoe's case) around a white-blanketed table which is located somewhere in the back row in a clockwise order were: Sparx, Zoe, Elora, Hunter, Bianca, Macy, Bartholomew, Sgt. James Byrd, Isabelle the Fairy and The Professor. Sheila, Bentley and Agent 9 were noticeably absent from the table, due to being at distant spots around the vast, gargantuan venue of the party.

"Spyro! Smokey! Glad you guys could make it!" Hunter exclaimed, walking over to his best friend before kneeling down on one knee and pulled him into an embrace, which symbolises their undying friendship. Returning the cuddle, he wrapped his teensy wings around him before they released their grip on each other.

"Not a minute too soon, guys!" Bartholomew jumped up and down, clearly overexcited and relieved that the teenage lifeguards manage to show up in one piece. For a second there, he thought they could never make it unless something important has come up but despite his initial assumptions, they thankfully arrived.

"Salutations, Spyro! It has certainly been a while, hasn't it?" The Professor greeted with a heart-warming, friendly beam spread across his lips, looking up from his clipboard. It's been a small number of years since they previously seen each other so his facial expression gives the impression that he's glad to see the purple-scaled, reptilian redeemer again.

"It sure has, Professor. How are things?" Spyro smiled back, but in a faint, weak manner. Sure, he's delighted to see the Professor again but due to the uncomfortable pressure on his sinuses and his lungs, he's like as if he is in a constant battle not to cough or sneeze in his lab coat-wearing, intelligent friend's presence.

"My experiments, calculations, inventions and equations have been going swimmingly and according to plan. But nevertheless, I have found time to spend some quality time with my companions. My favourite pupil, Agent 9, kindly lends me a helping paw to assist me with my experiments and inventions. Now back to the topic at hand, what brings you here?" The Professor rambled, going on about his scientific findings and the wonders of the scientific field as he tapped his trusty pencil on a piece of paper that is stuck on his clipboard he usually made use of.

"It's a bit of a long story but I'm just doing my part-time job here as a lifeguard.

The mole inventor nearly dropped his clipboard and pencil in sheer shock, in reaction to the news the little liberator has provided him. "Egad! You're not protecting the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds anymore, my boy?"

"I'm st Spyro averted his eyes from the Professor as he turned his head away whilst his words were interrupted when an unrelenting sequence of dry, hacking coughs wracked his frame. He coughed painfully, in short and repeated spasms into his claw and his body vibrated with each of them that expelled from his lungs and miniature mouth. When his sickening coughs eventually subsided, he cleared his throat to make his voice sound normal and loosening the mucus that's been blocking up his reptilian gullet as well as removing his claw from his lips and facing the mole scientist. "I'm still defending these worlds on a daily basis, I'm just trying to hide from the media and the paparazzi for a while so I wanted to know what it's like to be a regular guy for once."

"Aren't you a teeny bit worried? It won't be an easy task, attempting to juggle between two responsibilities what with your duty as a hero and your occupation as a beach lifeguard." The Professor enquired, raising one of his white, elderly eyebrows at the teenaged, purple dragon with a tinge of worry evident in his voice. The question is daunting on him for a while so he had the desire to get it off his chest. Now noticing how painfully Spyro has been coughing, the scientific mole shook his brown clipboard, still feeling traumatized and unsettled. Never in all his years he has seen the dragon hero suffering from an affliction, rendering him defenceless and powerless. "Are you quite all right, Spyro? You seem to be coughing an awful lot today. I must say, you've definitely chosen the wrong night to succumb to an illness."

As usual, Spyro still stubbornly refuses to believe that he isn't feeling like himself, something that's currently weighing down on his wings. "I'm not sick. Why are people keep on saying that?" He scowled in the Professor's direction, through clenched, sharp and pointy teeth. Obviously, he is fed up with the sympathetic comments he is bombarded with from not only him but also his friends and any resident he comes into contact with. The last thing he needed is the majority of the population suspecting that he's unwell.

"I believe taking a trip to the doctor and prescribing you with medication is in order. Hmm… if only I have a thermometer with me, I could determine whether you are suffering from a fever or not." The Professor carried on rambling while not keeping his eyes off his clipboard distractedly, dismissing the contradiction from the dragon juvenile, who is still in denial of his current condition.

"I told you I'm not—"

Just before Spyro could continue denying about his mild ailment, he is cut off when out of the blue; he heard a distinct buzzing voice coming from a recognisable, golden dragonfly. He knew it all too well but also, it's a voice he didn't want to hear because he hates the idea of his best friend making a fuss over leaving the house in his ill, debilitated state and his horrific cold.

"Spyro!" A familiar voice buzzed, yelling out the purple protagonist's name. Sometimes, it's hard to tell whether the buzzing is in English or not.

In spite of lacking the ability of seeing his surroundings in the almost pitch blackness of the night, Sparx flew to his best friend's side after spotting him, clearly concerned for his well being and safety. Not only that, but the dragonfly is also aggravated with the poorly, purple protagonist at the same time for departing the house in his incapacitated, ill state. "Spyro! I told you to stay put at home, you belong in bed! I don't want you to get any sicker!

Spyro shifted his sunglasses upwards until they rest on his forehead so he can see his dragonfly partner better and apologise in the best way he could to his dragonfly sidekick. He hates to admit that he is wrong but in times like this, he expresses his regret. Not only did he leave the house without telling his best buddy, but he also puts himself in danger if his past enemies discovered that he's sick with a severe cold. "Sparx, I'm sorry for leaving the house and not listening to your advice. But I've made up my mind and that's that.

"Your health's going to be at risk! And besides, what if our enemies seek revenge on us if they somehow survived from the last time we fought against them? They'll surely take advantage of your sickness and launch an attack on our lands when we least expect it!"

"You're worrying way too much over no Before he had an opportunity to finish his sentence, Spyro coughed harshly into one of his purple front claws, in short and repeated spasms, succumbing to his sickness. After he recovered from his bout of horrible hacking coughs, he composed himself and resumed his argument with his best friend. "…nothing. Just give it a rest, all right?

It didn't take long for Sparx to simmer down from yelling at his best buddy, he knew it is ill-advised to remain being cross with him. "I'm saying this for your own good and most importantly, I want you to get well. You're my best friend and I don't want anything terrible happen to you." He soothingly said, as if he is staying true to his words and attempting to console his close companion, with the purpose of relieving him from his affliction.

"I'll be okay, stop staring at me like that." Spyro shot an icy, peevish glare at his constant companion, fed up with his empathetic gaze. He raised an eyebrow in a questioning way as his temper toned down. "You don't trust me that I'm not capable of taking care of myself?" Due to the tickles irritating his throat which soon resulted into yet another bout of horrendous, hacking coughs, he proceed to cough into his small, purple-tinted claw, in short, dry and spasmodic bursts.

Sparx cringed every time the purple, heroic teen coughed so acutely and painfully which is enough to bring uninviting chills to his teensy body and spine. In comparison to how horribly his cold-stricken, courageous companion coughed right now, the gold dragonfly realised the coughs obviously sounded sicklier than a few days ago as if the coughs came from a stranger since they were unfamiliar to him. Still feeling a bit shaken from hearing Spyro coughing, Sparx built up the nerve to pick up where he left off. "I-It's… j-just… I've never heard you cough this dreadfully. What you need is some medicine STAT! …as soon as you visit a doctor, that is.

"I don't need it and another thing, it's not with us at the moment."

"Spyro, you'll never get better if you don't cooperate."

Even though he is weak in the knees and there is discomfort in every bone in his miniature body, the young, purple dragon had a bit of energy within him to object. "The answer is still no." He uttered this slowly in a stubborn manner; giving emphasis to how exhausted he is and the fact the symptoms took their toll on him.

"Spyro, why are you squabbling with a dragonfly?" Smokey queried, baffled with his well-known idol's undying bond with his dragonfly sidekick and unaware that they're the best of friends since the beginning of their lives, not to mention effectively disrupting the argument.

Spyro motioned his head to Sparx, indicating to whom he is talking to. "He's not just a dragonfly, he's my best buddy and my health indicator. This is Sparx, the one I've been telling you ab The purple dragon's words were cut off when he felt a tickling sensation itching his snout. He moved a claw to it as he intakes air and leaned back, on the verge of let out a sizzling sneeze. "_Atishoo_!" He lurched forward, ejecting a violent flow of blistering blaze from his diminutive nostrils and nose. "…about during our indu His sentence is cut short yet again, about to let out another sweltering sneeze. Groping for his packet of handkerchiefs in his bag, he lightly yanked out a pocket-sized packet of handkerchiefs before pulling a random tissue from it. He raised a claw to his nose, on the brink of sneezing. "_Ah… Ah… Ahhh… AH-CHOOOOOOOO_!" He rocked forward, forcing air, a blast of intensive, blazing inferno and snot out of his snout and ruddy nose unexpectedly, involuntarily, and piercingly. "…induction." He concluded his sentence, sniffling nasally for what appears to be the umpteenth time.

"Bless you!" Elora, Hunter, Bianca, Macy, Bartholomew, Sgt. James Byrd and Isabelle shouted in unison, knowing it's appropriate to answer after their buddy or anyone sneezed. Their voices all combined to become one voluble voice.

"_Gesundheit_!" Sparx, Smokey and The Professor exclaimed all at once, replying after their cold-stricken chum expelled a fiery, but strident, sneeze that grated excruciatingly against their ears. Out of the trio, the golden dragonfly couldn't communicate in English, due to the fact he is only fluent in his own language that consists of an assortment of buzzing.

"Thanks guys." Spyro smiled gratefully towards his fretful friends in a frail, unwell manner, sniffling weakly and nasally simultaneously.

Regardless of the colossal amount of sympathy the renowned, almighty Dragon Realms' protector is receiving, Macy took the opportunity to offer him an unsupportive comment just like she tends to do. In fact, her remark is referring to if he unintentionally sneezed in one of his buddies' direction; he could have reduced either of them to a mound of smouldering ashes, thus eliminating them. "You know you're probably the only guy at the moment who can kill anyone accidentally by sneezing.

"I covered my nose, didn't I? At least, I didn't sneeze at anyone, whether intentionally or not. So, I don't see your point."

Disregarding the insignificant argument between Spyro and Macy, Smokey addressed his open-minded greeting to the golden dragonfly, flashing him a welcoming wide smile. "It's great to finally meet you."

Sparx whispered indistinctly into Spyro's hidden ears even as the golden dragonfly is uttering in buzzing sounds, which is his way of communicating. To make sure he heard the words carefully and clearly, Spyro leaned over to his sidekick and nodded, understanding what he informed him about.

Unfortunately, the purple protagonist proceeded to cough continuously into his front, right claw, succumbing to his mild ailment as each unpleasant, hacking cough wracked his miniature body and chest. The more he coughed, the more loudly, sickeningly and unbearably his coughs get. As soon as his painful coughing subsided, he removed his claw from his reptilian lips and went back to listening to his partner.

Seeing as he has a long distance relationship with his dragonfly due to his part-time occupation, Smokey is apparently rusty in comprehending what the gold dragonfly has to say. Therefore, he has a tough time trying to make out the words from the buzzing sounds. "What did he say?"

"He says it's a pleasure to meet you." Spyro managed to rasp out whilst a faint smile is stretched across his lips; his croaky, cracking voice interfered with his speaking which hints at him starting to lose his voice with every word he spoke. He moved his head in his grey-skinned colleague's direction, showing his dragonfly who he is. "This is Smokey, he's my colleague and new chum. Our friendship bond has been growing stronger, the more we hang out with each other. We have to anyway or we'll never get far in this job." After he is done with explaining who Smokey is, he discharged a few dry coughs from his mouth, covering it with one of his purple, pint-sized claws as he coughed before concluding with a question, relating to his co-worker's dragonfly guardian. "So where's your dragonfly?"

"My dragonfly's at home and he's looking after the house while I'm at work."

Attempting to join in the conversation and now aware of his poorly pal being afflicted with a terrible cold from hearing him continuously coughing and sneezing, Sgt. Byrd saluted him in a respectful manner whilst encouraging him to recuperate. He imagined enduring an illness is kind of being involved in a military war but without the bombs, missiles, guns etc he most likely will expect from warfare and conflicts. "I am unsure if I have heard this correctly but is it true that you are in poor health? If my assumptions are correct, keep fighting the good fight, Spyro. In time, you will soon prevail in this war.

Failing to understand what the flying penguin is going on about, Spyro raised his right, scaly eyebrow with a frown plastered on his purple-coloured face before replying with a statement of his own, mistakenly interpreting the meaning behind the sergeant's military words. "But I'm not confronting anyone or any villain, for that matter.

With a single nod, The Professor agreed with Sgt. James Byrd, giving an explanation of withstanding an illness is kind of similar to being involved in a war. "Sgt. Byrd is quite correct. It is almost like a war except that you are fighting against an illness. To simplify, your immune system is defending against your sickness. If your will is reasonably potent, you will be on the road to recovery.

"I still don't see how this is related to my cold."

The Professor, however, ignored the purple hero; he clutched his trusty pencil and busily writing down important notes on the blank, white paper that is stuck securely on his clipboard. Obviously, he is absorbed into jotting down on it, in case he absent-mindedly forgot to get down to business of researching for a cure suitable for the poorly, purple protagonist without making eye contact with him. He is still scribbling away, not allowing the pencil to move off the breakable, flimsy paper. "I will consult to the alchemist from Fracture Hills, perhaps we will devise a method or some kind of substance in a form of a healing potion, in order to cure you. If it turns out to be successful, it will be a groundbreaking achievement! It will revolutionise the scientific community!

"Professor, don't ge Spyro stopped in full flow of his sentence when an irritating sensation were tickling annoyingly in his throat which resulted in a consecutive chain of dry, hacking coughs wracked his chest, underbelly and body to an dreadfully large extent, coughing painfully into his right, scaly claw. As he coughed, he squeezed his eyes closed to keep back the excruciating pain that is almost like innumerable amount of needles were piercing through his upper body. His disturbingly, harsh coughing came to a halt after what seemed like several seconds has elapsed whilst he opened his drooping, non-drowsy eyes and moved his claw away from his reptilian lips as he regained his composure. "Don't get too carried away just yet, trying to cure me might not be easier than you think.

Regardless of the purple protagonist's contradiction, Macy looked on the bright side of things, directing her optimistic comment to him, in an attempt to convince him that the idea is satisfactory. "But just think of it. Not only healing you will do you good, it will most likely be the biggest achievement and discovery the Professor has ever made. It will get him famous and be recognised among the scientific community. He'll be known as the brainiac who cured a sickly hero."

"I appreciate the optimism… erm… may I have your name please, young lady?" The Professor paused to avert his eyes away from his clipboard before meeting the cat wizard's emerald-tinted eyes, grateful for the uplifting encouragement before pausing within his sentence; realising Macy hasn't provided him with her name. As a result, he addressed his question to the female cat wizard.

"Macy." The cat wizard offered her name to the scientific inventor without hesitation, always welcome to befriend new people than the ones she already encountered.

"Much obliged, Macy. Your name is sounds pleasurable to the ears. Discovering the proper cure is a problematical road ahead of me but researching for the correct cure for the common cold requires intensive study. According to my analysis, there is absolutely no known remedy for the coryza." The Professor couldn't help himself but ramble on, relating to coming across a cure, with the intention of healing the ailing, purple dragon.

"So much for curing Spyro and gaining recognition."

In an attempt to perk up the female, cat wizard's spirits, Spyro forced a cheerless, frail smile that curved across his rough, scaly lips, emphasising that he is having a hard time of trying to express his happiness. Not only is he not at his best, his sickness is causing him to drown in sorrow. "Don't worry 'bout it, Macy. I'll be well again before you know it and I'll recover from it the old-fashioned way." Even his words tried to convince himself that he is the opposite of being poorly.

"By…?" Macy is egging her cold-stricken friend on, staring directly into his ill, sagging eyes and urging him to reply to her short question.

Spyro opened his mouth and would have described how he is going to pull through his illness, however he refrained himself from speaking when Elora has beaten him to listing the things that will ensure his recovery. "Plenty of bed rest, consuming Vitamin C, taking your medicine and drinking large quantity of hot fluids." As she mentioned the last small number of words, she turned her attention to him, implying she directed those words to him.

"I'm about to say that." Spyro countered with a reply that he muttered inaudibly under his breath, slightly displeased that the Avalarian faun caused him to desist from answering the cat wizard's question.

Regardless of how quiet the purple boy of a dragon uttered his response, the brunette-haired, female faun replied in a playful sort of manner, having a little bit of fun with him which is her way of trying to get him into the partying mood. "Of course you were, Spyro."

Getting caught up with his conversation with some of his companions and allies, the purple protector barely noticed the absence of his comrades from the Forgotten Worlds. Darting his eyes from left to right, he noticed some of his comrades were missing from their table. "Hey, where are Sheila, Bentley and Agent 9?

"Sheila's having a bit of trouble with Moneybags who just so happened to turn up at Dragon Shores." Zoe responded with a dismal expression, piping up for the first time in numerous hours. Since her friends have been hogging the attention, she never had the opportunity to converse with the ailing, purple protector. Her face told him the kangaroo got herself into a mess, preventing her from meeting up with her past chums.

"As for the others, some of them are at the buffet table while a few are mingling with the other partiers." Sparx added, buzzing as his way of communicating with his best friend. Out of everyone, the littlest, purple reptile is the only one who can comprehend what his dragonfly sidekick informed him.

With a determined expression on his pallid, purple face while trying to conceal his pain from his sickness, Spyro already made up his mind, without hesitant and willing to get Sheila the Kangaroo out of her dilemma. "Don't worry, I'm on it.

Before the heroic celeb sped off to take care of business somewhere else on the beach, Smokey placed a grey-coloured paw on one of his colleague's aching haunches, causing him to turn around to face directly at him and thus, stopping him from heading off to give the greedy bear a good talking to.

"Hold up, Spyro. Are you sure you can handle dispensing disciplinary action by yourself?" He questioned, worry remained clear in his voice and obviously possessing no knowledge of who Moneybags is, considering he hasn't met him yet. Due to that reason, he is uncertain whether his colleague should punish the avaricious bear on his own.

"Hey, I've faced horrible things before. How hard is dealing with Moneybags can be?" Spyro scoffed in an arrogant manner, referring to the time he chased Moneybags around Midnight Mountain a small number of years ago, torching his butt and charging into him, reclaiming his money back in the process due to the fact, he threatened to sell a dragon egg for a fortune at Avalar.

"How about we do this together?"

"I don't need YOU or anybody's help, I can do this by myself." With a huff, Spyro marched up to Smokey, despite of the painfulness and ache in his stubby legs due to the symptoms of his severe cold and scowled straight into his eyes, fire burning within the purple dragon's eyes. "Either I'm going or neither of us are tackling this problem.

After concluding his sentence, the purple pubescent stormed off in a short-tempered mood, stomping the ground with every step he makes. The moment the he is out of sight, Smokey's expression changed to a frown, aggravated with his workmate's attitude and behaviour towards him. Sure, Spyro is his idol and who he looks up to but he has the right to be frustrated with his role model, friend and co-worker.

Throwing his front paws in the air in exasperation, Smokey is fed up with Spyro's stubborn pride and the fact he wouldn't put it aside. "Sometimes, I don't know how you guys can put up with him. He's as stubborn as a mule… maybe a lot more stubborn." He repeated the word "stubborn" to emphasise his point since he already lost his patience with the 14-year-old, courageous protector.

Understanding the other young lifeguard's displeasure, Elora attempted to calm him down in the sweetest, soothing voice she can do. "He may be difficult at times but you'll get used to him soon." Seeing as she has known the purple guy since his arrival in Glimmer, she has adapted to his personality and what makes him as the renowned, dragon hero the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds have ever lived and heard.

The minute the words flowed into Smokey's invisible, scaly ears, his expression softened and his anger toned down to a minimum. "And whatever makes you say that?" He asked, not entirely convinced with the Avalari faun's words of wisdom. Knowing Spyro, he'll carry on to be the way he is. It's his nature and how things go with him.

"He's been like that since I first met him.

"Sheesh, what's his problem? Talk about being huffy, that's so not like him to be like that." Macy promptly placed her white, furry paws on her hip, annoyed of the little, purple lifeguard's attitude. "Huff the Magic Dragon." She cracks up snickering at her humorous remark as she mumbled in an almost muffled tone, referring to her hotheaded, but mulish, dragon friend.

However, Smokey is quick to hearing the cat wizard's heartless nickname, regardless of her muttering. "Good one, Macy!" Smokey laughed heartily, finding the harsh nickname hilarious. In a few seconds, he ceased his sniggering and frowned, realising that it will most likely offend Spyro if he discovers the female cat wizard took the mickey out of his stubbornness and irresponsible behaviour. "Although, it isn't nice to call my colleague like that.

"I know but I weren't evil in the past for nothing." The cat wizard removed her white, furred paws from her hip before crossing her arms and smirked in a self-confident manner, proud of her old personality and recalling the old days of where she used to treat anyone, including her fellow cat wizards like dirt in Charmed Ridge.

"Should we go after him?" Hunter is the first one to ask, undoubtedly worried about his best friend's safety as he fidgeted with his fingers, feeling uneasy and fearing for the consequences the 14-year-old, ailing dragon might face if he let his guard down.

Still fed up with his co-worker's obstinate attitude, Smokey crossed his legs (since he lacked arms, seeing as he is depicted as a quadruped, young dragon) and grunted peevishly. "You heard him! He doesn't need our help or mine, most specifically speaking." To prove his point, he gnashes his draconic, pointed teeth in sheer frustration.

"He's so dedicated to his lifeguard duties rather than recovering from whatever illness ailed him. It's like as if he'll continue to be like that or defend our worlds and realms, even if it kills him." Bartholomew pointed out, feeling sympathetic for his pig-headed, purple-scaled pal. Even though the small saviour is sick, he still insists on being there for anyone in dire danger but isn't used to people nursing him back to health or worrying over him.

Being the voice of reason once again, Elora piped up with a moral message of her own but alas, it is too late to tell Spyro about that. "Offering help to others is just as all right as receiving help.

Upon hearing the faun's moral message, Smokey looked directly into her sapphire eyes as his temper is reduced to a moderate level at a slow pace. "Then why didn't you tell him?"

Elora shook her head, knowing that trying to enlighten the daring, determined dragon with her moral message isn't going to make him change his mind, which means it is futile. "He won't listen. You know how he gets when he's determined to set his mind to whatever he's doing.

"Exactly. Even if we ask him the same question, he won't take 'yes' for an answer."

"So, what are gonna do?" Hunter addressed his question to Smokey. Within seconds, he and the others aimed their eyes at him, awaiting an answer from him.

"We'll just have to wait here 'til Spyro comes back. If he doesn't, then we'll have to search for him to see if he's okay and out of harms way." Smokey answered, directing his reply to the cheetah and his new buddies. Leadership may not be his top priority, however he has gained that kind of skill during his part-time occupation as a beach lifeguard if he must enforce the rules.

* * *

Meanwhile, Moneybags is up to his usual swindling tricks again but this time, he has his keen eyes on Sheila the Kangaroo's gems. In fact, he and the kangaroo can be seen standing close to the karaoke stage. He puts his plan into action, intending on charging the denizens for ascending the stage to perform for the raving audience. Ensuring that his scheme will come to fruition, he purposely blocked the stairway with his broad, plump body that prevented the residents to gain access to the stage.

"In order to impress the masses with your melodious singing, you're required to pay a reasonable sum of money." He enlightened the kangaroo; making use of a fake rule he created out of nowhere in order to fool the unsuspecting victims of his money-swindling schemes. In reality, it isn't part of the regulations within the rulebooks the young lifeguards have in their possession.

From what she recalled, karaoke is free of charge and doesn't really require a fee to perform on the stage. Believing the shenanigans to be unnecessary, Sheila the Kangaroo placed her light brown, furry paws on her hips while craning her undersized neck, with the purpose of meeting the bear's eyes. "That ain't right, mate. I don't remember about a rule of paying any fees to sing. I'm reportin' to one of the lifeguards 'bout this."

"I am terribly sorry but money surely makes the world go round. As for the outstanding fee, I require 1,000 gems from you.

"I ain't paying up even if you try to bribe me. I don't think none of the lifeguards said anything about this."

The Australian kangaroo grumbled, loathing the idea of shelled out her cash to the gem-grabbing, selfish bear. "You're so persistent, aren't ya? Fine, here are 1,000 gems." She reluctantly surrendered before she somehow withdrew a white sack of money from out of nowhere since she lacked any pockets and pouches and handed them to him.

With the gems in his possession, Moneybags laughed hungrily to himself as if he won the lottery. When he opened the sack, his circle-shaped, green eyes were glazed as the gems sparkled and glistened brilliantly right in front of him, white, illuminating light is reflecting from them. Even his reflection is showing within the blinding transparency. "Oooooh, yes! Precious, precious gems! Very well then, you are allowed to ascend the stage."

His gleefully laughing carried on until the point it is immediately cut short when he heard a voice that seemed to be all too recognisable to him. As if things couldn't get any worse for him, Spyro or any of the newly recruited lifeguards were the people he didn't want to see; due to the fact he dreads either of them were aware of his dastardly deeds.

"What the heck is going on here?" A familiar, male voice bellowed in an authoritive tone, which came from a certain, recognisable lifeguard teen. Strangely, his voice is booming louder than normal as if he used some kind of device to enhance or increase the volume of his voice.

Upon hearing Spyro's commanding tone with a hint of hoarseness in his voice, Sheila's lips curved into a heart-warming smile as she caught sight of a short, dragonesque silhouette approaching them. She felt relieved that one of the lifeguards came to her rescue just in time. She had a feeling that he'll be on her side, handing out disciplinary action to the tight-fisted, money-loving bear.

"G'day, mate." Sheila graciously greeted the purple, pubertal lifeguard in her typical Australian accent, which reflects her personality and characteristics. "This gem-pinching bear is tryin' to fleece me off my money." Still holding a grudge against the stout, stingy bear, she eyed him with a burning passion that suggests how enraged she is, indicating who ripped her off.

"Is this true?" Spyro addressing his question to Moneybags, in a breathy, cracking voice, lowering down his megaphone from his purple-tinted, reptilian lips. The current sound of his voice gave emphasis to his illness causing the sudden change in his voice and the fact it's been infected.

Still not recognising the pubescent, purple dragon from his new get-up, Moneybags tried to reason with him in his typical high-class accent, not to mention lying to him with the intention of getting himself out of his current situation. Although, he knew the lifeguard is a male, which is the reason why he refers to him as "sir". "You are very well mistaken, sir. I have no intention to do no such thing. I believe it is your duty to discipline this naughty young lady.

"Yeah, right! I recognise your voice from anywhere. You're the one I should punish.

"Heavens! What has gotten into you? I presumed lifeguards usually discipline any inhabitant that violates the rules." Moneybags almost jumped on the spot in sheer shock in reaction to the pubertal, purplish reptile, not expecting him to cast doubt on him.

"You ha Just when Spyro thought he could finish his sentence, he elapsed into an uncontrollable, hacking coughing fit as he immediately went down into a crouching position and coughed severely, persistently and violently into both of his claws for seconds and minutes without end and at an alarmingly rapid rate before he could retort angrily at his enemies. His hacking coughs were becoming deeper, harsher and rougher than the last time he coughed disturbingly; depending on how harder he coughed. They were released from his painfully, sore lungs, one after another and can range from the quietest to the extreme loudest. They are dry, painful coughs with harsh, unpleasant sounds that are excessively unbearable for words or to describe. They are so discordant, they rendered the kangaroo's words indistinct and to no avail, as if she is talking in an almost silent voice.

"Blimey! You okay mate? What's the matter?" Sheila shouted in sheer alarm, fearing for what is happening to the teenage lifeguard. Her green eyes grew to an enormous extent at the sight of the poorly, purple protector suffering from a coughing fit. She quickly came to his aid as she held him firmly with her furred paws to make sure he doesn't fall down from coughing non-stop.

To stop his hacking coughing fit, Spyro slowly rose up from his kneeling position before reaching into his purple bag to take out a bottle of crystal-clear, cool water with one of his claws as he continued to cough painfully, roughly and harshly without covering his reptilian lips for innumerable seconds and minutes on end, one after the other. He unscrewed the lid in a clockwise direction and took a couple of sips from the bottle. The watery liquid slid down his mouth and his excessively, sore lungs until the substance eventually reached the bottom of his stomach. He then placed the lid back on and twisted it in a counter clockwise motion before slipping the bottle into his bag and sighing deeply with relief, slowly collecting himself from his horrible, hacking coughing fit and regaining his breath.

"Are you all right now? Crikey! You're not coughing to death, are you?" Sheila addressed her empathetic questions to the cold-stricken, purple protagonist as she helped him up to his feet using her furry paws. Since she has never witnessed anyone, especially someone of heroic status, suffering from a ghastly coughing fit before, it makes sense why she is feeling sorry for him. With her help, he used his teeny, white talons and clasped on to her furry, brown body as support before he brought himself up and stood on all fours.

"Heck, no. I just got a ton of tickles prickling my throat. That's the last of my worries." Spyro shook his head to the marsupial's question as his reply; he hoped his lie would cover up his coughing fit that occurred so abruptly. After collecting himself, he averted his eyes from Sheila and confronted Moneybags with an unforgiving, but stern, glare as his voice returned to an authoritive tone; he'll see to it that the greedy bear will be disciplined in a strict manner. "Now, where was I? Ah, yes. You have no right to be here!"

Getting scolded by the young lifeguard is one thing but witnessing him suffering from a hacking coughing fit is another. Moneybags would have took advantage of Spyro's sickness, however he knew better than to oppose him in an argument which would most surely be a one-way ticket out of Dragon Shores if punishment followed. "Please, sir! You must let me finish!"

"Now, return the gems back to her or I'll see to it that your punishment will be far more severe."

"Now, hold on! Swindling gems from this young woman is not my top priority." Moneybags held up his paws in defence, trying to lie out of his predicament but to no avail, considering the fact Spyro is advancing on him with fire burning radiantly in his eyes, representing his anger. Adding to the suffering he experienced because of his dreadful cold, he obviously isn't in the best of moods.

"If I had a gem every time I heard that one." Spyro rolled his eyes, disbelieving the greedy bear. After all the times he is forced to cough up a certain amount of gems in his previous adventures, he has certainly learnt from his past not to be gullible. He continued scolding the bear in his authoritive, but stern, tone of voice. "If I see you here again, you're sooooo askin' for it but I'm watching you."

Reluctantly, Moneybags placed down his sack of stolen gems on the ground for Sheila to repossess them. She hopped over to the bag and happily reclaimed them, much to the bear's dissatisfaction.

"What are you waiting for? Get lost!" Spyro craned his neck and head up, in order to glower heatedly and indifferently at the penny-pinching bear in a strict, but authoritative, manner. _Whoa… I think Stanley or Daniel's strictness is rubbing off on me._ He thought in astonishment, grasping the realisation that the way he treated Moneybags and ordering him around is much brutal than how he normally acted towards him. All that listening to his coach and employer must have paid off.

"If you weren't here in time, I would have gotten away with ripping off money from this kangaroo and I would have successfully rake in all that cash." The dapper, ungenerous bear murmured indistinctly to himself, complaining that his money-making plan has foiled. He deliberately decreased the volume of his voice with the intention of not letting the adolescent dragon being well-informed of what he is plotting.

"What is that?" The pubescent, purple dragon leaned his head and neck forward, with the intention listening carefully and cocked an eyebrow suspiciously, assuming the bear muttered something inaudibly under his breath.

"N-Nothing, sir." Moneybags stuttered and faltered in his words, cowering before the lifeguard. It isn't normal for him to be frightened but when it comes to being face to face with any beach lifeguards, he is shivering in fright but tried to look composed in front of the teenaged lifeguard.

When it comes to his part-time lifeguard job, Spyro's presence has indeed brought some kind of commanding aura surrounding him. However, when he's mingling with his trustworthy companions, his attitude and personality changes to his usual persona.

"Good 'cause I don't wanna hear another word out of you. You are dismissed." As he concluded his scolding, he made a moving gesture with his claws, as if he is telling the avaricious, money-hungry bear to leave the tropical beach.

After he waddled off into the night without a moment to spare, Moneybags seethed and rambled on in his mind about the fact his moneymaking plan failed miserably, due to a certain courageous lifeguard who is practically in his way. His brave endeavours and deeds sort of reminded him of a particular purple dragon except for having authority and enforcing the rules on the seashore. _Hmph! That kangaroo is fortunate to have a lifeguard protecting her in the nick of time. Who does he think he is? Ordering me around and scolding at me as if he has authority over me! Mark my words, I will return to reclaim the gems I rightfully deserve!_

"Much obliged, mate. But aren't you too strict on him?" Sheila thanked, expressing her thanks and touched by the lifeguard's act of kindness, despite of his strictness towards Moneybags.

"No problem!" Spyro grinned, with an optimistic, but pleasant-sounding, giggle that came from his throat. Telling by his light-hearted attitude, he is glad to help out Sheila the Kangaroo who is in need of some help. "Puh-lease. He had it coming!" He said in a resentful, but arrogant, tone as if he didn't care about hurting Moneybags' feelings and casually flicked his front, right paw downwards in a cocky manner. "Besides, I can't tolerate his behaviour and actions right now."

"I'm not one to worry but what if he comes back, even if you scolded him?

Spyro's friendly smile immediately changed to a frown, feeling an annoying tickle irritating his agonising sore, but scorching, lungs which soon about to develop into a bothersome cough which is getting on his nerves. "Don't worry, I'll Unfortunately, he couldn't suppress the tickling sensation as he placed a claw over his reptilian lips and succumb. A spasmodic sequence of nagging, hacking coughs then proceeded to wrack his small, short body while he coughed harshly into one of his purple-skinned claws. His coughs are described as repeated painful coughs with unpleasant sounds.

Instantly being aware that there's something wrong with the lifeguard teen, Sheila cautiously tilted her head to look directly at his flushed, pallid face with a worried emotion evidentially in her emerald-coloured eyes whilst he kept coughing stridently and disturbingly into his miniature, purple-tinted claw. "You okay, mate?

"I've never felt better." It is all Spyro could let out from his reptilian lips after suffering from a bout of dreadful hacking coughs that lingered on and shook his body powerfully, not to mention harmed his terribly sore lungs. He forced a smile to make himself look like he's all right. He knew his really nasty, hacking coughs left a disgusting taste in his mouth and on his dark red tongue that caused him to gag or retch.

"You don't sound fine to me. I reckon you should take some medicine or see a doctor, mate. For now, I'd better head back to me mates before they wonder where I am."

"I'll be okay, I'm sure it's nothing I can't handle." Spyro reassured the fretful kangaroo in a confident tone of voice, in order to conceal the insufferable pain he's enduring and assuring her that he is okay. "If you're in trouble, just give me a shout and I'll be there. I'll see you later."

Sheila watched the lifeguard teen wearily walking off into the distance, most likely heading back to his allies and comrades whilst his body slowly shrinks with every step he makes. _That lifeguard's nice and all, but why he isn't admitting that he's sick? I reckon there's something wrong with him._ She mused to herself, suspecting that he has already fallen victim to the common cold or some sort of viral disease or infection.

And with that, she hopped back to where her friends are awaiting her return. Not only are her colossal circle of companions are there but the truth behind the mysterious, young lifeguard's true identity is waiting patiently for her as well.

* * *

By the looks of it, her friends are in the same spots where she left them. Most perceptibly, a few of her Forgotten Worlds comrades still haven't come back from mingling with the other civilians. She happily hops over to the table, joining with her companions. Upon hearing the sounds of hopping, they swivelled around and immediately perked up as soon as she crossed their field of vision. As soon as she finally got to her destination, she brought her journey to a halt and took the liberty of take up a random spot in the reasonably gargantuan group.

"Sorry for keepin' you mates waiting, I had to deal with a jer Sheila stopped in mid sentence when her green eyes fell on the familiar, ill lifeguard she recalled from earlier. He just so happened to be sitting or standing with his circle of companions he befriended during his epic adventures before he got the job to hide from the publicity and to take a break from his struggle against the antagonists. Her eyes grew gigantic and wide, astonished that the ailing lifeguard somehow knew about their chums. "Hey! I recognise you! You're the guy who helped me get out of the mess with that stingy bear but why are you with me mates… unless… nah, you can't be who I think you are, are you?"

The kangaroo's assumption is correct as Spyro slowly took off his sunglasses that concealed his purple, watery and sickly eyes, revealing himself as one of the new young lifeguards of this tropical beach. He greeted the marsupial in a low, cracking voice, due to his terrible cold and with a draconic grin that is spread across his scaly lips whilst he scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Hey, Sheila. Sorry I had to hide my identity but I had to keep a low profile." After he gave her an apologetic, but ashamed, look, he released a short, shallow cough from his mouth as he covered it with a front, left claw. However, his cough is barely audible as if he muffled it and it is hardly horrible, in comparison to how he typically coughs.

"Blimey! This means that kind lifeguard is you this entire time? Why didn't you tell me?

Spyro bent his purple-tinted head down in shame, feeling guilty due to the fact he hid his secret relating to his part-time lifeguard occupation and his awful cold from his trustworthy friends. Raising his head upwards and moving a claw to the back of his head, he scratched it in a sheepish manner. It is like as if he lied to them, not notifying them where he is. "Yes, that's true. I wanted to tell you guys but I've gotta wait 'til all of you are ready to hear the truth. I didn't mean to deceive you all."

"It would certainly mean a lot to us if you enlighten us with the truth, if you will." Bentley replied in his usual British accent, eagerly, but politely, awaiting the truth from his cocky, but cold-stricken, companion. The way he uttered those words sounds as if they came from a high-class, posh society.

"Yeah! Out with it, Spyro!" Agent 9 exclaimed, egging Spyro on even as the hyperactive monkey increased the volume of his voice. Clearly, he's eager and excited to hear the truth from the famous, celebrity hero and he can hardly wait any longer.

"Don't keep us in suspense." Isabelle the Fairy added, she couldn't agree with the male protagonists anymore whilst her teensy wings constantly fluttered with anticipation.

"I don't have a choice now, do I?" Spyro asked his faithful friends, attempting to get out of this tight spot. Unluckily, all he received as a reply is his allies shaking their heads left and right repeatedly. He sadly heaved a sigh and cleared his throat, beginning his account of how he managed to get the part-time job and how he became ill with a horrendous cold. "It all started when I was tasked with babysitting three dragon hatchlings but unfortunately for me, they're unwell. We had a lot of fun until Gildas showed up and suggested that I should get a job as a part-time lifeguard at Dragon Shores. Before he departed, he handed a leaflet to me that advertise the occupation. As soon as I reached my home at night, I somehow came down with a very bad cold. The next day, I went to Dragon Shores by myself to get enrolled on to the job. Once there, I met my employer, colleague and my coach but ever since I had this job, the symptoms of my awful cold took their toll on me."

"Crikey! It all makes sense now. That explains why you're acting all weird before." Sheila pondered to herself, putting two and two together, eventually coming to the conclusion why her friend is acting strange or out of character.

"Well, I didn't want anyone to discover about my sickness, let alone my job."

"I wouldn't be surprised if your enemies find out the truth." Macy muttered, crossing her arms and using the right moment to lower the young dragon's self-esteem.

In spite of his hidden ears being blocked because of the symptoms, Spyro promptly narrowed his eyes and glared furiously in the cat wizard's direction as he increased the volume of his voice without straining it. "Not helping here, Macy!"

With an optimistic smile, Bianca tried to move the conversation on to brighter things, trying to cheer her friend up and make him take his mind off of being poorly. "Ignore her. Just try to think positively and stay strong, Spyro."

"C'mon, let's take a se A series of heavy, mucus coughs wracked Spyro's stunted, but petite, body before he could conclude his sentence as he coughed into one of his purple, puny claws. As his coughs extended for a slightly long period of time, he shut his eyes firmly to suppress the intensive pain whilst they sounded gross and wet at the same time. When his wet, damp coughs dwindled until they entirely subsided, he collected himself whilst he removed his claw from his reptilian lips and beckoned his companions with a gesture to follow him using one of his purplish, petite claws. "Let's take a seat, I have a feeling the party's about to start.

One by one, his allies followed him and Smokey to where the innumerable rows of chairs were planted and arranged neatly on the ground in front of the elaborate and highly decorative stage.

* * *

Each inhabitant all scrambled in random, unknown directions to secure the seats, it is like first come, first serve. The last remaining people will have to settle for the back rows of chairs or standing still. In fact, it is like a hectic war zone, claiming the seats for themselves to park their bottoms on.

Although Sparx is Spyro's dragonfly, he told him to follow his group of faithful allies until he is needed.

The first row is reserved for the lifeguard team, sitting in the seats from left to right; Stanley, Daniel, Spyro and Smokey.

The second row is fully booked with Spyro's friends from left to right; Sparx, Zoe, Hunter, Bianca, Elora, The Professor, Macy, Bartholomew, Sheila the Kangaroo, Sgt. James Byrd, Isabelle the Fairy, Bentley and Agent 9.

The various magical creatures and talking animals hailed from each homeworld of the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds filled the last couple of rows.

Each race from every part and realm of the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds were chatting enthusiastically amongst themselves, clearly looking forward to partying hard until the break of dawn or when they feel like calling it a day. Obviously, the karaoke and the luau parties were the best highlights.

As soon as Gildas ascended the stairs that leads to the top of the stage, his presence silenced the entire audience when he clutched the microphone in one of his hefty, blue-scaled claws.

"Welcome to our karaoke and beach party! I'm Gildas and I'm your host for tonight! For those of you who live outside the Dragon Realms, we'll always give you a warm welcome and make all of you feel right at home. Before the karaoke officially commences, I will fill you in on what Dragon Shores has to offer." His vociferous voice boomed all across the beach for all to hear clearly and carefully as well as out of the tall, but colossal, black speakers.

As Gildas began to ramble and explain about the late-night schedule of this Friday night, a conversation occurred between the young lifeguards causing the blue dragon's explanations to become indistinct and unclear. They lowered down their voices until it's barely a whisper, enabling the other members of the audience to listen carefully and taking in the adult dragon's words into their minds.

Normally, Smokey would expect coughing, sneezing, hacking, wheezing or rasping sounds from his cold-stricken colleague every so often but instead a few, horrendous coughs grates insufferably against his unseen ears. Mistakenly assuming the unpleasant sounds were coming directly from the purple dragon; he looks towards him, who is minding his own business kicking his legs back and forth repetitively as if Gildas has seemingly bored him to death with his bland, mind-numbing speeches.

In case his words failed to reach the fourteen-year-old, adolescent dragon (unless his ears were infected too), Smokey tilted his head to his side and promptly whispered his question in one of his cleverly hidden ears in the quietest voice possible. "Spyro, is that you doing that?

Upon hearing this question, Spyro slowed his casual kicking to a complete halt before he faced his fellow worker, cocking his left eyebrow at him. Judging by his bewildered expression and the kind of look he gave him, he has no idea of what or whom he is going on about. "What are you talking about?"

"Is that you coughing dreadfully just now?"

"Nope." Spyro shook his head as his answer to his colleague's question. "My coughs don't sound like that, mine sound even worse most of the time." He said in a matter of fact kind of tone, he knew his coughs sound differently and far more excruciating.

Once again, a couple more repulsive coughs ringing out against Smokey's ears that were secreted somewhere on his complexion and skin textures. As if his cold-stricken colleague's coughs aren't unbearable enough, he has to put up with somebody else's coughing.

"There it goes again!" He placed his pocket-sized, grey-tinted claws over his unseen ears, in an attempt to deaden the dissonant, sickening sounds as he cringed.

"Smokey, you might wanna look behind you to search for the cougher or coughers." The valiant, but ill, defender suggested, recommending his proposition to his workmate with the purpose of uncovering the identities of the folks that were sending out repugnant coughs from their gullets and mouths.

Smokey swivelled his head around to witness three dragon hatchlings being cradled in Nestor's adult-sized, green claws. Apparently, they each had baby-sized, white-coloured facemasks covering their snouts and miniature maws, in order to avoid infecting other citizens. This indicates that they've already taken a trip to the doctor but judging by their innocence and immaturity, they inadvertently infected Spyro with their dreadful cold. Seeing as the majority of the beach is packed and the population has taken up all the chairs that are covered in a black plastic surface, Nestor had no choice but to remain standing at the left side of the back row.

Realisation struck the small, grey-scaled teenager as if an unbreakable, sturdy brick collided with his head, now understanding where the purple protector could have probably caught his cold. "That means, you're not the only one who's sick?" He queried, in an almost astonished sort of way as if he never expected four young dragons to fall ill with the common cold all in one day… or so he presumed.

Spyro started to fumble about for a small packet of tissues in his purple bag, dragging a white, blank tissue from the packet after pulling it out of his bag and pushing it to his purple, scaly lips, feeling a tickly sensation prickling his reptilian gullet as if a feather is moving up and down against his throat. "Well… I'm not the one who's cou Before he could finish off his sentence, a bout of deep, rough coughs interfered with his talking while he doubled up. They were wracking his body as he continuously coughed into his tissue until he eventually coughed up thick, gooey sputum and spat it into his handkerchief. He is coughing so badly as if he is suffering from another coughing fit. "…coughing right now." He managed to rasp out, bringing his sentence to an end in a weak, croaky voice. "Aww, crud. All of that talking is making me cough." The more he carried on speaking, the more he coughed violently.

Smokey took the opportunity to rub his cold-stricken colleague's purple, scaly back up and down to soothe and console him as he lowered his voice until it is hardly a whisper. "Calm down, Spyro."

"I can't stop coughing." Spyro faintly frowned, spoken in a breathy, cracking voice; which is all he managed to let out of his miniature mouth after coughing very intensely.

"Just drink the tea Elora made, then your coughing will be gone before you know it."

Agreeing to Smokey's compassionate advice, Spyro carefully opened the lid of the thermos in a clockwise motion with one of his miniature claws and took a taste from his thermos after removing the cup from the top, allowing the warm tea mixed with tea slowly descend down his throat until it reached his stomach and light yellow underbelly, relieving him from his coughs. His red-coloured tongue smacked his lips, savouring the delicious and sweet taste. He gulped down a few times, intending to get rid of the irritating tickles in his lungs and soothing them. Once he's done, he placed the cup over the top of the thermos and turned it in a counter clockwise motion to close the container securely. Just when he thought he had a moment of peace to himself, he is met with a pair of angry, hazel-coloured eyes from his employer, staring at him.

"If you would kindly please cease the unpleasant sound effects, young man. It would not do any good to us and the citizens here." Stanley scowled in the purple, dragon teen's direction, clearly aggravated by his employee's continuous coughing which broken his concentration of listening to Gildas on the stage.

Feeling obligated to stick up for the ailing, 14-year-old teenage dragon; Daniel glowered heatedly at his strict, unkind employer, outraged with the way his boss is treating his trainee. "Stanley, don't be so harsh on him. Spyro's sick, that's why he's coughing." He persisted in meeting his employer's glare as if they were engaged in a heated staring contest. "Don't give me that look, I'm just looking out for the well-being of my student. You should be too, after all he's one of your employees."

"Yeah, just chillax. How'd you like it if Spyro is annoyed at you if you were suffering the same way as he did?" Smokey agreed, joining in with his coach and sticking up for his sick friend and fellow worker. Even though it's risky for him to squabble with his boss, he knew it isn't right for his chum to be treated unfairly. Recalling their previous conversation, he addressed his question to his ill co-worker; resuming their discussion to a certain part before his colleague unfortunately succumbed to a bout of bothersome coughing earlier. "So, who's coughing if it's not you?

"Only a few dragon hatchlings got sick. I'm not sure if they're the same ones I caught this nasty cold from. Hopefully, it won't become an epidemic." Spyro nodded his head to Nestor, Roxy, Brian and Hank that were positioned at the very back row, indicating whom he is referring to.

It didn't take long to let the words register in Smokey's mind. His sky blue-coloured eyes instantaneously grew gargantuan to the similar size of dinner plates as his colleague's assumption hit him as if he realised something just now. Of course, the words didn't physically and literally strike him. "No way! That's how you've fallen ill in the first place?"

"Yeah. If I weren't stuck with babysitting, I wouldn't be feeling rundown like this and coughing this awfully."

Having a thirst for a glass of water, not to mention taking a breather as well as lubricate and soothing irritated tissues of his throat, Spyro got up to his feet and started heading in the direction of the buffet table. It isn't until Smokey's teen voice intervenes with his journey to it, causing him to stop dead in his tracks.

"Where are you going? Our speech doesn't start 'til later!" He cried out, becoming curious and wondering why his co-worker is departing from his designated spot all of a sudden. Sure, he is fond of his colleague's company but he didn't like the idea of him missing out on their public statement if it eventually comes to their turn to mount up to the stage.

"I'm getting a glass of water. I'll be back soon." Spyro turned his attention to his worried workmate with a sickly frown arched across his lips in an upside down position, his voice is replaced by one of croakiness due to not intaking water for more than a while, thus causing it to sound throatily.

* * *

Due to the sharp, throbbing pains piercing his legs, limbs and every muscle in his body which impeded his progress a tad bit, Spyro had no choice but walk to the refreshments table at his own pace. It's like as if his body parts didn't want to cooperate with him. No matter how many times he tried to ignore the unbearable pains, they seem to keep returning and impede his progress. Seeing as his vision is as clear as day due to the fact dragons have the capability of seeing in the dark, he is able to take in his surroundings without any trouble at all.

Since the table is just across the beach, it isn't that hard to miss seeing as the white colour stands out from all the pitch-black darkness of the night. He would have sprinted to the table but unfortunately; he couldn't even if he wanted to. The sooner he retrieves a glass of water, the less he needs to worry about his symptoms ruining the rest of the night. All he has to do is try to take it easy and walk to his destination step-by-step without any worries daunting on him. Thankfully, he eventually arrived at the table with minutes to spare.

Since he is short, he is unable to obtain a transparent glass, let alone anything he can get his claws on. He tried as he might to stand up in an upright position on his two legs, causing him to tower over the buffet table. Careful as he is, he leaned over and gripped the empty glass in his mouth that he caught a glimpse of from the far back of the table. Once that is done, he gently settled his glass down in front of him before letting it go and proceed to shifting himself over to where the transparent blue bottle of water is located. Making use of his miniature maw, he grabbed the top half of the bottle before making his way back to his unfilled glass. As soon as he returns to his previous spot, he slowly tips it over, allowing the cool, thirst-quenching water to cascade into his glass until it fills to the top before situating the bottle on the table next to his glass. He decided to leave the bottle beside him, in case he desires a refill.

He tilted the glass to his pint-sized jaws whilst gripping it in one of his claws, letting the top of the glass touch his purple, reptilian lips whilst the water falls into his mouth like a never-ending waterfall descending to the bottom of a enormously, vast body of pristine water from above. He took several sips, in case his gross, painful-sounding coughs ensue which seemed like the umpteenth time. Each time he swallows the water, it gradually decreases. There's nothing like a glass of icy, refreshing water to calm his nerves and his coughing, not to mention soothing his raw, uncomfortably sore throat.

Just when he thought he had a moment of peace to himself, he turned to the sound of approaching hoovesteps that sounded like, "_clop, clop, clop_", and a silhouette drawing near him. The more the silhouette comes within reach of him with every step, the more it becomes larger. He had no trouble of distinguishing who the person is, however he initially assumed to be Elora. In reality, the figure turns out to be none other than Sheila the Faun, the former talisman holder from Fracture Hills.

"Hey, Mr. Cutie." She greeted in a seductive, almost calming voice, casually walking towards the cold-stricken, teenage lifeguard and protector, attempting to flirt with him.

"Hi." Spyro simply said, turning his attention to the blue-coloured faun. A feeble smile slowly crept across his reptilian lips whilst he sniffed nasally. The way he uttered the word, "hi", is more like in a throaty or short of breath kind of way as if his sickness has actually sapped him of his strength or depleted his energy. Grasping the realisation that the female faun isn't remained seated in her chair just like the other members of the audience, he directed his question to her. "Shouldn't you stay in your seat?

"I'm returning to my chair later, I'm just getting a bite to eat. How about you?

"I came here to get a glass of wa Just when Spyro is going to finish the rest of his sentence, a dry, hacking cough attack ensued. Succumbing to his mild illness, he pushed a hygienic, flimsy hankie to his reptilian lips, coughing harshly into it to prevent his revolting germs from spreading and infecting Sheila as he coughed in short, dry and spasmodic bursts as his terrible, hacking coughs wracked his chest and body. When his coughing decreased to a small amount until they quietened completely for now, he regained his composure and started again in a low, gravelly voice. "I came here to get a glass of water." As he said this, he lifted one of the transparent glasses from the refreshments table before tilting the glass of water into his mouth whilst gripping the glass in one of his claws, the watery liquid falling gradually into it and swallowed the cool, refreshing water.

Still feeling a bit shaken and disturbed, in reaction to hearing the young lifeguard's painful-sounding coughs as they blared insufferably through her ears, Sheila fiddled with her blue-coloured, feminine fingers awkwardly in front of him. Not only is being around him is making her feel uncomfortable due to developing a teeny bit of a crush on him, but so is his dreadful coughing. "Something's strange is going on here. All I can hear is coughing sounds coming from all over the place on the beach; they're much louder than the speech that's happening on the stage. Do you know anything about this?"

Not liking where this conversation is going, the pubescent, purple dragon shot a piercing, infuriated glare at the Fracture Hills faun. "Look, I don't wanna ta He rubbed the bottom of his nose with a single, white talon, an irritating tickle irritating his sinuses. "_Atishoo!_" He turned to the opposite direction of the female creature and jerked his body forward as a powerful torrent of fire and a great deal of perfectly gross snot expelled from his snout, thus reducing the tissue to a mound of smouldering ash. He regained his self-control, swivelled around and returned to speaking in an unfeeling, angered tone. "…talk about it. If you don't have anything important to say to me, I'll see you later."

As quick as he closed the conversation, he brushed by her as he stormed off in bad-temperedness, stomping on the sandy surface of the ground as he goes. She felt as if a blazing ball of fire whizzed by her, she could probably feel the unforgiving heat giving off from his excessive anger. Whatever she must have said might have angered him to an immense extent.

_What the heck is this guy's problem? Boys can be so temperamental sometimes._ She thought to herself, beginning to regret something she uttered in the adolescent lifeguard's presence but at the same time, she disliked his rotten attitude one bit and how uncharacteristic he acted.

He may have treated her unfairly but that didn't stop her from enjoying the party. He may have been acting out of character but there are days where things don't go exactly his way. The coughing, the sneezing… something tells her that there's more his odd behaviour than meets the eye. Shrugging off her thoughts, she began to browse through the various foods that were laid on the table right in front of her and to choose from.

* * *

After being dissed by the pubertal, reptilian lifeguard and consuming her chosen snack, Sheila stomped along the darkened ground due to the nearly jet-black darkness of the night, balling her hands into clenched fists before she promptly sat in her chair the instant she located it, which is reserved for her and joined with her faun friends.

"That lifeguard's being a tad weird tonight. He didn't need to be such a grouch." Sheila the Faun crossed her arms and grumbled, infuriated with the cold-stricken lifeguard's attitude towards her. _It's not like I provoked him on purpose._ She seethed through her teeth in frustration, failing to understand how she could have caused him to flare up in enragement.

Still expecting the lifeguards to act like how she assumed, Spinner the Faun is left perplexed of why her friend is suddenly being negative about either of the teenage, male lifeguards. "Like, whatever do you mean?

"That hunk of a lifeguard's being a bit hard-hearted but I think he's, like, hiding something from me. Quite frankly, he isn't doing a good job at trying to be secretive.

"Ain't all lifeguards like that?" Krista asked, confused of what the former talisman holder informed her. She never thought of the lifeguards being the opposite of what she initially assumed.

Intrigued of what the young, male lifeguard appeared to be, Spinner asked the ex-talisman bearer a question, eagerly to get to know him more. "What did he look like?"

As Sheila placed a hand to her chin whilst rubbing it in a contemplating manner, she begins to give a description of the little lifeguard from memory to her pals as well as listing of what makes up his traits and appearance. From the way she described him, he seemed to look uncannily like the fearless protector of the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds. "It's hard to see in the dark but all I can make out is he's small, purple, handsome and he has petite wings and horns. Plus, he seems to be, like, wearing red, a pair of sunglasses over his eyes and he appears to be familiar despite the hoarseness in his voice. He kinda reminds me of that dragon-boy I've seen from our realm."

Now, it's Lila's turn to speculate. She knew that sunglasses are appropriate to wear during the day time during the extreme, humid heat of the summer or at tropical beaches or resorts so out of all the times in the world, why would a lifeguard wear a pair of shades at night? "But it's night time. Why in Avalar would he be wearing sunglasses?

Since the fauns were so caught up in their gossip, they hardly heard the sound of little pawsteps approaching them and barely noticed Spyro standing behind them. To get their attention, he immediately cleared his throat and raised his shallow, croaky voice above the hubbub without straining it. "_Ahem_! Can you girls keep the noise down?

At the sound of his soft, rasping voice, each of the fauns spun their heads around to face one of the local lifeguards, who's apparently not in the best of moods, because of his ailment as he glowered at them in a stern, unfriendly manner, appalled at their behaviour and disruption.

Being aware that she and her friends might be in trouble and on the verge of being punished, Lila the Faun began to stutter and falter in her words in a reasonably quiet tone of voice and in dread, afraid of what might happen to her and her chums. She realised that when it comes to defending the beach, keeping the peace and enforcing the rules, lifeguards are like authority figures. "S-sorry, M-Mr. Lifeguard, sir.

"Just what do you gi Spyro stopped in mid-sentence whilst he felt an uncomfortable sensation tickling his nose, it's bad enough it's putting pressure on his sinuses. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to pull out a handkerchief from his bag to cover his fiery sneeze. He turned his head aside to avoid sneezing out fire and roasting the fauns in the process whilst he jerked his head backward, intaking air and preparing to sneeze. "_Atishoo!_" He rocked forward, forcing out a powerful burst of yellow, orange and red flames that made up of the hot colours of his dragon fire and a great deal of perfectly revolting snot from his snout. He sniffled nasally while he regained his composure, recovering from the unexpected expulsion. "Just what do you girls think you are doing? You should know better than to talk in the middle of someone else's speech!

"Bless you. But I thought we're allowed to, sir."

Although Spyro is short, he feels as if he towers over anyone whenever he has to enforce the rules or dispense disciplinary action to rule-breakers. The more his voice intensifies by the second with every word, the more his throat ended up becoming sore and the more he starts to lose his voice with each word spills out of his miniature mouth. "That doesn't mean you can get away with speaking when a speech is in session!" He never thought he had it within him to be authoritive, let alone being strict.

"We-we're ve-very so-sorry, m-mister." Krista tried to apologise but ended up stammering instead, cowering in the angered, purple reptile's presence. Even though she and her female friends were sitting comfortably in their seats, the ailing, reptilian creature sort of stood as the same height as them.

Spyro's stern face softened as he calmed himself down, letting his teeny, reddish-brown wings flopped at both sides of his back and haunches. It is like there are two sides of him: the first minute he is taking his part-time job seriously and the next minute he is kind-hearted, determined and heroic, alongside his usual cocky and overconfident personality. "Sorry I ha Before he had a chance to apologise, a bout of deep, barky coughs suddenly interfered with his speaking as he coughed disgustingly and discordantly into his left, purple-scaled claw. Unfortunately for him, his coughs sounded even more sickening than last time, the more he coughed. The moment his coughing decreased to a minimum until they utterly quietened down, he instantaneously cleared his throat and collected himself before taking up his sentence again. "…had to be strict to you girls but I had to do my job and enforce the rules here."

Despite the fact how the headstrong, courageous hero and lifeguard treated her and her buddies earlier, Krista the Faun felt sympathetic for him. "Are you okay? Are you, like, ill or something?" She arched one of her eyebrows at the purple protector, suspecting that he's unwell after hearing and watching him coughing persistently.

Behind his sunglasses, the ailing, purple dragon rolled his bloodshot, watery and puffy eyes at Krista, dismissing her sympathy and assuring her that he'll be fine in spite of his continual coughing. "I'll be all right. Why do we have to ruin tonight over something as trivial as a cough?"

No matter how hard the poorly protagonist tried to keep up with the charade, Spinner the Faun seen through his story and presumed that he's feeling under the weather at the moment. She knew that coughing is normally one of the primary symptoms of any illness. "I think there's, like, more to it than just your coughing.

"I'm not sick." Spyro lied in a disagreeing manner, attempting to conceal the truth about his severe cold from the fauns of Fracture Hills. His voice returned to an authoritive tone, resuming to take his part-time job seriously. "I'll let this slide but if the volume doesn't go down again, I'll have no choice but to either call reinforcements or ki Unfortunately, a hacking cough attack inconveniently ensued as a series of painful-sounding, hacking coughs wracked his whole body as he coughed roughly and harshly into his right, purple claw. He coughed so hard; he had to shut his eyes tightly to keep back the excruciating pain that harmed his awfully sore lungs and fire-breathing glands to an extremely enormous extent. The harder he coughed, the more disturbing his coughs sounded. The instant his dreadful coughing dwindled, he managed to regain his composure even as he opened his eyes and removed his claw from his reptilian lips and picked up from where he left off. "…kick you girls out. Do I make myself clear?

"Yes, sir." Lila, Spinner, Sheila and Krista swiftly answered in unison, not wasting any time to reply to the angered lifeguard as if they understood the consequences if they violate the rules after he scolded them.

"Good. 'Cause I'm not in the mood today." Spyro bitterly said, glaring sternly at the fauns. He immediately frowned, feeling an irritating sensation prickling inside of him that caused him the urge to cough. Just when he thought his coughing stopped, he moved a clenched claw to his reptilian lips and a few hacking coughs were expelled from them and his dreadfully sore lungs. In comparison to the previous cough attack, they were a bit quieter than last time. However, he closed his eyes tightly to keep back the sharp, excruciating pain that wracked his frame and light yellow-coloured chest. By the time he stopped coughing, he opened his eyes before collecting himself and clearing his throat, in order to remove an excess amount of phlegm that were building up in his lungs. "I'll be keeping my eye on the four of you." Before he departed, he rummaged through his bag for a packet of tissues and pulled it out. Once he did that, he dragged a white, delicate tissue and using the remaining strength within him, he blew his nose. He walked off; sniffling inaudibly and nasally due to the mucus congestion clogged up in his snout and nostrils, with every step he makes.

"See I told you he is grumpy." Sheila crossed her arms over her chest and grunted in a peeved manner, starting off the conversation regarding the seemingly mysterious lifeguard.

Now admitting that their local lifeguard is acting uncharacteristic, Lila proceeded to make a remark on how he behaved towards her and her chums. "Sheesh, some lifeguard he is. It's not necessary for him to yell in our faces like that, it's not like we deserved this kind of treatment.

Unlike her two friends, Krista brought up with a question, suspecting that the dragon hero might have been feeling under the weather the whole time, causing him to take his frustration out on her and her buddies due to his stress level. "Do ya think whatever sickness he has that's ailed him is what got him in a bad mood?

"Nobody is implying that he's got the sniffles." Spinner shook her head, disbelieving her pals' speculations. She knew it is unnecessary to jump to conclusions, in case their theories turned out incorrectly.

"Let's keep down the noise. We don't want that lifeguard punishing us again, plus a one-way ticket out of here, do we?" Sheila reduced the level of her voice as her way of proving her point until it is at an acceptable silent level as if she is whispering. She didn't want to give him a negative impression for the third time that sullied their reputations as natives of their realm.

"The coughing, the sneezing, the sniffling… Something is definitely up but he's not, like, telling us what is wrong with him. It's on the tip of my tongue but the second I see him, I swear he looks familiar." Krista rubbed her chin in thought, contemplating on why the stalwart, adventurous lifeguard is behaving bizarrely and listing only some of the common symptoms. She feels as if all of them or the aspects all point in one direction that ultimately leads to a conclusion or answer.

Little do she and her mates know that all will be revealed and her questions will be finally answered later on, on the stage.

* * *

After dealing with the chatty fauns from Fracture Hills, Spyro travelled back to his respective chair on foot, sniffling repeatedly in a nasally manner as he goes. When the grey, winged reptile heard his cold-stricken colleague's little footsteps and his soft, snivelling sounds, he shifted his stubby legs backwards straight away, thus allowing him to walk pass him and settle down in his seat.

Noticing that he is more hot-tempered than usual, Smokey scooted over beside him but not too near him to prevent himself from catching the purple, reptilian youth's nasty cold.

"What's the matter, Spyro? You look as if someone just rubbed you the wrong way or you've woken up on the wrong side of the bed." He tips his head to the left, gazing intently into the stubborn, but sick, dragon's glassy, drowsy eyes in an inquisitive fashion.

"A group of fauns are suspecting that I'm poorly." Spyro frowned, slouching down his weary haunches whilst his tiny, ruddy-brown wings flopped down and rested on both sides of his petite body, emphasising his anxiety on the current situation.

"Can't you tell everyone the truth? I can understand you've been meaning to keep this a secret but confessing the truth will save you enough hassle."

The minute Smokey formed those words from his mouth; Spyro shot a downright, unforgiving stare at him, feeling an uninviting chill of trepidation overtaking him. Somehow, those words have affronted him and possessed the wrong effect. "I can't do that! There's no telling what will happen if the whole population finds out! My reputation will be in jeopardy!" His sudden outburst caused a few, random heads of the populace spinning to look in his direction, the kind of attention he never intentionally desired. When his temper has slightly toned down, they resumed to mixing and socialising with different walks of life or listening to the host of the fiesta, forgetting that incident never occurred.

As if he had the capability of seeing in the future or predicting the consequences of the purple protagonist's actions, the grey-coloured, thirteen-year-old dragon shook his head while making a contradiction which is referring to the hero's minor illness, stating in a matter-of-fact type of tone. "But you can't keep up with this charade any longer. Everyone's bound to know sooner or later.

"On the plus side, they haven't figured out my identity yet."

Before their conversation could carry on, Gildas' voice boomed through the speakers and reverberated vociferously throughout the seaside for everyone to hear. "And now, we're going to hear a few words and wisdom from our lifeguards. Spyro, Smokey, can you two ascend the stage please?"

At hearing those words from the blue-coloured, adult dragon, Spyro cringed as he felt the colour of his scaly body going even paler than it already has been from dread. "Oh, crud."

He felt his uneasiness taking over him until a grey-scaled claw is unexpectedly placed on one of his haunches, which caused him to turn around, facing his colleague.

"Don't be nervous, Spyro. Everything will go in our favour, you'll see." A reassuring smile is curved across Smokey's reptilian lips, trying to brighten up his co-worker's spirits.

Spyro gulped as his little, reddish-brown wings kept flapping on their own, a sign of his tenseness. He feels like there is no way out of his predicament. Either he'll take part in the speech with his colleague and risk revealing his secrets to everybody or not making any public statements, thus taking the risk of losing his part-time occupation. "It's not that I'm anxious, it's just everybody will start wondering why I'm suddenly a part-time lifeguard instead of being a hero. What's even worse is they'll realise that I'm unwell."

Unaware of the celebrity hero's current situation, Daniel lifted up an adult-sized card as an example, complete with colourful text in large letters and puts it on his lap. The letters were in a reasonable, gigantic size so his students were able to see from afar or up close. Thankfully, all the letters were able to fit on to one card. The rest of the cards were apparently laid in a slanted position, near his legs. "Don't worry, boys. If both of you are stuck and in need of help, I'll be holding up some cue cards or signs so you boys won't forget what to say."

"But wouldn't that be distracting us? People might think that you've gone cuckoo to use them. You could have given us a head's up or some kind of warning about doing a speech." Smokey lifted his right, grey-coloured scaly eyebrow, giving his lifeguard teacher some sort of expression as if he is telling him, 'are you serious?'.

"I would have but with all the work I'm completely swamped with, I'm unable to inform you about making a speech." The aqua-scaled, elder dragon explained, enlightening his apprentices with the reason of why he never notified them relating to making proclamations in the first place. "You boys aren't the only ones occupied with paperwork.

"You should have let us know about it during training." Spyro concurred in a gruff and gravelly voice, assenting with his colleague as he crossed his arms over his light yellow chest… or rather his stumpy legs since he didn't have any.

"Now, up you two go. We don't want to keep the whole audience waiting because of our petty argument, do we?" Daniel nodded his head upwards, as if he is telling his trainees to climb up the flight of steps.

Before either Spyro or Smokey could continue to run their mouths, their coach rose to his huge, hefty feet from his seat and gently pushed them, escorting them to the entry of the stage using his grownup-sized, bulky claws.

"Good luck and remember what you've learned." He reminded, providing his students with vital and fundamental advice. His light blue eyes locked on to the poorly, purple protagonist, offering him encouragement as well as conversing in a wise, but ethical, manner like a proper instructor should. "And Spyro… be sure not to let your sickness take hold of you, even in times of stress or suffering.

Spyro raised a scaly eyebrow at him in a baffled manner as if his blank, bemused expression is telling him questions such as, "Huh?" or "In English?". Judging by his expression, he clearly had a tricky time trying to decipher the meaning of the message his instructor provided him.

"You know what I mean." Daniel swiftly said, without explaining his message any further into detail and complicated words that his trainee couldn't comprehend.

This wise advice is just what the purple protagonist required to boost up his self-assurance. If only he could try to keep that in mind in the future. Before he had any second thoughts, he scaled up the stairs with his colleague close behind. Once they are on the stage, witnessing that many people can be overwhelming especially if it is their first time.

They caught the microphone in their sights before walking up to it. There are absolutely no words to describe what it is like to be up there on the stage, it is like being in another world or something along those lines. Before Spyro grasped the microphone in his claws after advancing towards it, he adjusted the height of it so it matches his own. When he finished fiddling with it so it is the correct height, he cleared his throat, in order to loosen the mucus that has been clogging up his lungs.

"We're glad to be he—"

Before he could finish his sentence, an enormous bout of painful-sounding, hacking coughs was expelled abruptly from his fiery lungs that wracked his small, but short, body as he coughed roughly and harshly into his right, purple claw. He squeezed his eyes shut firmly with the intention of keeping back the unendurable pain that pierced through his chest and tormented him drastically. They became even noisier, dissonant and extremely bad with each cough that were sent forth from his lungs.

They are dry, painful coughs with a harsh, unpleasant sounds, they sound so disturbing, they brought unsettling chills to everyone's spines and they felt ill at ease while they exchanged a glance to one another, becoming concerned for their cold-stricken, new lifeguard and protector. They never expected the undisputed, almighty hero of the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds falling ill with the common cold, even if it's severe. Spyro's nasty hacking coughs sound incredibly discordant and discomforting that it's enough to make anyone lose their appetites.

A collective assortment of dialogue occurred from a variety of random inhabitants from each realm and world of the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds which make up each member of the audience such as"Is he all right?", "Is that really Spyro on the stage?", "Did he came down with a cold, the flu or some kind of disease?", "Why is he coughing like that?", "His coughing sounds beyond disturbing.", "If Spyro's sick, who's going to defend us and maintain balance? We're doomed!" and "Doomed, I tell you! Doomed!". Telling by their tone of voices, they were tremendously concerned for their ailing defender and lifeguard.

"Are you all right?" Smokey slowly, but cautiously, took a couple of steps towards his cold-stricken colleague, who is still afflicted with his mild illness.

Only a few more horrific, hacking coughs wracked Spyro's little frame whilst he coughed into his small, purple-scaled claw before he regained his composure. Even though he has a small stature, he is capable of coughing painfully. "I couldn't been better, Smokey." He lied, sniffling nasally and eyeing his co-worker with a weak, half-hearted smile in an attempt to reassure him.

"Should I take your place for a while?"

"I can handle this. It's just a co Before Spyro could complete his sentence, he doubled up with a series of heavy, mucus coughs that lingered on as long as the burning itchiness and the tickles remained in his lungs. Since he didn't have time to fumble for a paper tissue, he continued to cough into his claws. "…cold." He ended his statement as he looked up to Smokey with sickly, baggy eyes and a frail, reassuring smile.

"Spyro, it's not worth it to carry on at the moment in the current state you're in. You're obviously too sick to do the speech with me. I think you should get a glass of water, take a break for a while and wait until you stopped coughing before you think you're ready to ascend the stage, I'm sure Daniel and Stanley will understand."

Before Spyro could open his mouth to protest or retort back, Smokey gently pushed him towards the stairs. However, the plucky, purple protector is too weak and in poor health to protest or complain any further so he and his colleague descended the short staircase. By the time they reached the bottom, they went their separate ways.

"Do you mind if Spyro's gonna take five?" Smokey asked, addressing his question to the tall, blue-coloured dragon, relating to the sickly saviour.

"I don't mind. Did he come down with something? He keeps coughing terribly on end." Gildas queried, concerned for the purple lifeguard's wellbeing and health. The last thing he needed is out of all the dragons in the Dragon Realms, Spyro has to be the unfortunate guy to have contracted with an illness, especially on a Friday night.

"H-He's n-not si-sick. H-He h-has a t-ton of tickles in his throat which lingered on and caused him to cough like that, yeah that's it." Smokey stumbled on his words, trying to convince Gildas that his partner hasn't fallen prey to an illness, lying on his behalf.

His lie almost succeeded, that is until Spyro padded over, looking slightly refreshed after gulping down a glass of thirst-quenching, cool water he acquired from the buffet table to soothe his raw, tingling throat and quietening his unbearably, awful coughs. His moist, scaly lips indicated that he went to the refreshments table not too long ago.

"Hey, Gildas. What's going on?" He wondered in a lethargic, but sociable, tone of voice, as if as a wave of sleepiness has washed over him. Unfortunately, his voice is still tainted with hoarseness and constantly cracked with each word that flowed out of his miniature maw.

"Ah, Spyro. I've been told that you're in good health, even though your disturbing coughs is throwing all of the citizens and everybody else off balance." Gildas acknowledged, his expression changed from an amiable look to one of repulsion, commenting on the arrogant, but ailing, reptilian redeemer's sickening coughs.

"You… don't…say." Spyro said between unpleasant hacking coughs, pressing a handkerchief to his purple, scaly lips. One by one, they were wracking his frame to an exceedingly massive extent as he shut his eyes, suppressing the excruciating pain that pierced through his burning lungs and chest. Unfortunately, trying to cover up his illness in front of one of the dragon elders is difficult but denying that he's poorly is making things worse, especially his coughing. "I'm… sure… it's just… a… figment… of… your… imagination.

Appalled that the purple protagonist is telling fibs to him, Gildas scolded him but in a stern, but considerate, manner. "Spyro, don't lie to me. I know you're not yourself; it's evidentially in your voice and the fact that you're succumbing to your sickness. However, if you keep at it with your coughs, the population of the Dragon Realms will bound to know that you're unwell." Unfortunately, his compassionate words never got through to the celebrity hero, due to him suffering from a hacking cough attack that is afflicting and tormenting him acutely.

Still suffering from his bout of horrendous, hacking coughs that were released one after the other from his lungs and reptilian lips; Spyro kept coughing painfully into his sputum-stained tissue. Once they eventually quietened down, he opened his ill, weary eyes and regained his composure. "You're not gonna tell, are you?"

"I suppose I'll keep your secret quiet but only so the forces of evil doesn't take advantage of your sickly state."

"Thanks. That means a lot, Gildas."

"Before you return to the stage, I believe you must calm everyone down. Your terrible coughing has undoubtedly left them unsettled."

"I'll try my best."

After a well-earned break, the lifeguard duo made a decision to resume their speech. The purple dragon is the first one to ascend the flight of stairs, followed by his co-worker. He clings onto the black, slanted railing of the short staircase that travels all the way to the top of the stage with his white, tiny talons, having difficulty with remaining still as his surroundings spun and his vision blurred slightly. With a claw on his forehead, he is determined to prevent himself from collapsing on to the solid, but smooth, pale brown floor or feeling dizzy.

"Spyro, are you okay? No offense, but you don't look so good. Do you need help bringing you up the steps?" Smokey's voice became indistinct and inaudible, his eyes making contact with Spyro's purple, but sickly, eyes as the 13-year-old, grey-scaled teen's face become obscured when the dragon hero's eyesight become distorted to the point his colleague's face is unrecognisable and tricky to distinguish.

All Smokey received, as an answer is an icy, hostile glare from Spyro, scorching fire burning vibrantly within his non-drowsy, ill eyes as if someone actually stoked up the flames and ignited them. Still mulishly refusing support from his work mate, he retorted in the unfriendliness way possible, regardless of the light-headedness he suffered from a moment ago. "I don't NEED your help. I can climb up the stairs by myself." His shallow, croaky voice indicated the purple, adolescent lifeguard that he has had it with the frequent sympathy and help requests he's been bombarded with.

But his body language, aching haunches and stubby legs and a sharp, throbbing pain piercing through his teeny, reddish-brown wings told him otherwise. With each step he makes towards the top, he paused every now and then to avoid himself from being overwhelmed with a wave of wooziness wash over him by clutching on to his forehead and holding the banister with the other. Several moments later, he eventually reached the stage, followed by Smokey. Still feeling woozy as if he is on the verge of collapsing on the smooth, sturdy surface of the stage, he walks unsteadily to the centre of it where a microphone is located.

Unfortunately, his horrible, painful-sounding coughs from earlier must have caused a heap of turmoil breaking out between the population, due to losing their nerves about their cold-stricken hero and lifeguard over the fact they're dreading that he'll be laid up in bed and powerless to defend the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds if evil arises.

"Everybody, be quiet!" Spyro attempted to raise his voice above the disorderly hubbub without straining it but to no avail so he resorts to drastic measures. He placed his whistle inside his mouth and blew on it as hard as he could to reduce the commotion coming from the denizens. One blow of his whistle has completely silenced the whole population of the Dragon Realms and the vacationing visitors from Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds. He shakily gripped the microphone in one of his purple claws, as he spoke up. "Now, that I've got your attention. I'm sorry about what happened earlier and we'll make up the time we wasted. Also, I apologise that I'm not feeling quite like myself before." An apologetic frown is plastered all over his scaly face, referring to his severe cold and his coughing as well as feeling guilty that he made everyone panicking frantically. "Anyway as I were saying, we're glad to be here on stage tonight. It's such an honour to do this presentation in front of al Unluckily, he is disrupted by a small number of productive coughs as he coughed into his purple-hued, right claw. They were described as coughs with expectoration of material from the bronchi, not to mention they sounded wet, but revolting, all at once. After he recovered from his repugnant coughs, he cleared his throat to loosen up the mucus that is increasing and cluttering up in his lungs. "Excuse me. I'll start again; it's such an honour to do this presentation in front of all of you. In case you haven't noticed, we're newly-recruited lifeguards so don't even think about judging us 'cause we're new."

Spyro took a small number of steps back, allowing Smokey to press forward to the microphone before gripping it in his claws. "I'll carry on from where my partner left off. We're always here so you can count on us to protect and defend this beach and all of you to the best of our abilities but we tend to take turns during shifts. In case you're wondering, we're on patrol until the end of the party in case there are injuries, problems or any intruders intending on sneaking in uninvited, even though our job is actually over for the day."

Upon hearing what his co-worker mentioned, it daunt on Spyro. He dwelled on the possibility of his past enemies returning with a vengeance but he dared not to assume the worst. _It's not like Shorty, Gnasty Gnorc or the Sorceress are gonna return from beyond the grave and seek revenge on me by sneaking in. C'mon Spyro, you're being paranoid. Just don't let this cold get to you._ He shook his purple-tinted, scaly head, dismissing the thought of this sinister, but foreboding, event occurring. Just the thought of it makes him shudder with distraught.

Whenever he and Smokey take in turns to carry out the declaration, they use their mouths to form the words as they read the colourful words that were printed on the colossal, rectangular cards their instructor held over his head, which earned a series of raising eyebrows and facepalms from the spectators as well as a disgruntled glare from Stanley. It doesn't matter whether Daniel is helping or embarrassing himself as long as he is assisting his students in the best way he could. If the words cannot fit or it is the end of a paragraph, he constantly flips over the cards as in putting one on top of another.

"We may be young but we're tougher and perhaps, stricter, than we look. As long as you abide to our rules, we won't be strict on you and everything's hunky-dory." Smokey carried on with the proclamation, unwittingly uttered a slang word he isn't supposed to say.

Upon hearing this word, Spyro leaned towards his partner's head and promptly whispered to him in the quietest voice possible. "I don't think you're supposed to say that, Smokey."

"Why can't I?"

"Well… wouldn't Stanley be furious with you for saying something either of us aren't allowed to say? For one thing, it's informal."

"Take a chill pill, Spyro. What he doesn't know won't hurt 'im.

In spite of the off-topic conversation, Smokey managed to get the public statement back on track, moving on to explain about his and his co-worker's part-time occupation and the guidelines of the shore. "But that's not all, we have zero tolerance for any rule-breakers. We'll give you a warning but if you violate the rules for the second time, we won't be hesitant to boot you out of Dragon Shores. I'm sorry but that's how things roll with us. If you have any queries or problems, it wouldn't hurt for you to come to us immediately for assistance.

Spyro walked forward, taking his position at the microphone after a brief break. His teensy, white talons clinging to the unbreakable, smooth floor of the stage beneath his feet. "Does anybody have any questions?"

"Pardon me, sir. I have a question I'd like to enlighten you with." Snappy the Seal lifted up his long, blue fin, signifying he has a question to address to the renowned, fearless reptile of the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but are you ill?

"Now, whatever makes you say that I'm not well?"

"From what I've seen, you were coughing a lot on the stage earlier.

"Even though I'm coughing before, doesn't mean that I'm sick." Spyro lied, his stubbornness is evident in his voice. This proves that he still doesn't admit that he's unwell. The more he tries to conceal his secret, concerning his sickness, the more it's revealed to the population and the visitors. He averted his face from his microphone and a few horrific, hacking coughs ejected from his lungs and mouth as he tried to muffle his painful coughs with one of his pint-sized claws to ensure nobody realises that he's feeling under the weather. Try as he might to hinder the uncomfortable pressure on his reptilian gullet but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stifle his coughing entirely. When his harsh coughing subsided in a couple of seconds, he regained his breath and composure before facing the front to the spectators. "What? I can't cough when I'm not poorly?"

"I think there is more to it than that."

"I'll be okay. I'm not fretting over something that's unimportant and neither should you." Spyro shot an unfriendly, bad-tempered glare at the seal from Seashell Shore, clearly had enough with the frequent sympathy he has been bombarded with throughout the day and the previous days. With every word that expelled from his pint-sized mouth, his anger intensifies as a plume of black smoke billowed out of his nostrils and he seethed through his jagged, draconic teeth.

Using his maw to form his words, Smokey reduced the volume of his voice with the intention of calming his colleague down, in an endeavour to whittle down his grouchiness to a minimum. "Relax, Spyro. This isn't the good time to lose your temper and it isn't gonna make your illness any better." Continuing from where his colleague left off, the thirteen-year-old, grey reptile stepped forward, substituting him for a while. "Anyway, does anybody else have any questions that's not relating to my colleague?" He forwarded his question to the members of the audience, trying to change the subject. "Yes?" The instant he caught a glimpse of a human-like hand being raised up, he directed his question to one of the faun civilians of Magma Cone.

"If I wanted to request a song, how do I do it?" Loonie the Faun passed on his question to the thirteen-year-old, grey-scaled teenager, communicating in his usual Scottish accent.

"Erm… we don't know exactly, I think Gildas knows more about it. Any more questions?"

This earned a chorus of crickets and an awkward cough from Spyro, who coughed into his front, left claw. This is a traditionally way of being a sign of no response from the audience. Considering the fact that is night time, it would make sense why there are cricket sounds reverberated off the cliff and bounced off the sea. The audience are speechless due to running out of questions, not speechless because of astonishment.

"O-kay… I'll take it as a no then." Smokey blinked in uneasiness, disturbed by the complete silence he received from everyone as he remained still in his position. Dismissing the uncomforting quietness, he cleared his throat before concluding the declaration. "That's all from us. If you have any more questions, you'll know where to find us.

"And there you go, give a round of applause for our lifeguards! Let's make some noise for our boys, everyone!" Gildas reached out his blue, colossal claws in the young lifeguards' direction, indicating whom he is referring to.

All they received in response is a shower of hooting and hollering, not to mention whistling and a prolonged, standing ovation from each member of the spectators.

"Hey, that sort of rhymes the way he said it." Smokey chuckled, making a remark on the fact that the words, 'noise' and 'boys' rhyme well together as if he deliberately used them on purpose. "Is he talking about us?

"Well, duh! Whom else would he be referring to?" Spyro giggled, finding the statement humorous. Unfortunately, his light-hearted sniggering lasted for a brief duration when it eventually is replaced with a bout of productive coughs as he coughed into one of his purple, petite claws. As his gross-sounding, clammy coughs extended for a seemingly long period of time, he shut his eyes strongly in order to withhold the pounding pain that wracked his small, short frame. Once his coughing dwindled down to a complete stop, he opened his eyes and composed himself. "Maybe I shouldn't be laughing." He added underneath his breath in a short of breath kind of manner, beginning to have second thoughts. If he didn't break into laughter, he wouldn't have suffered from any of the symptoms in the first place.

"Look on the bright side, at least you're enjoying yourself a little.

The dragon hero laid a claw on his chest, grimacing from the piercing pain his terrible, repulsive coughs caused. The commotion from the local populace, outsiders and vacationing visitors is excessively noisy that it rendered their chat out of earshot and vague, thus causing it to be unheard. As quick as the speech, continuous clapping and hyper cheering is concluded, they descended the set of steps leading to the bottom and off the stage.

Waiting for them patiently is their lifeguard teacher. Apparently, he quit hoisting a bunch of large, white cards above his head, in order to provide guidance to his trainees and chose to congratulate them on their progress. Guessing by his broad, wide grin arched across his lips, he is satisfied of what they accomplished so far starting from their training session leading up to the public speech and making themselves as well as the whole lifeguard squad proud. By what he witnessed, they failed to disappoint him, their employer and the audience.

"How is it?" Smokey enquired, urging his coach to come out with his overall verdict of the entire public speech.

All Spyro and Smokey received are enthusiastic, voluble clapping from their instructor. It seems that he has listened well and carefully to his students while they executed their proclamation with no trouble at all, despite the fact most of it has been hindered by Spyro's sickness due to his coughing and sneezing. "Very well done, boys! I couldn't have been any more proud! It's like as if you two lads were lifeguards all your life!"

"All in a day's work." The purple protector replied in his usual cocky attitude, flashing a toothy, appreciative smirk in his instructor's direction. In fact, it is most likely his real, self-satisfied smile. He normally lacked the capability of smiling since the day he first fallen sick with a horrible cold.

"Thanks, teach. That means so much to us." Smokey expressed his thanks, a broadened smile curled across his lips and addressing his coach as, 'teach', for the first time as a nickname, which is obviously short for the word, 'teacher'.

Getting to the matter at hand and recalling how much the purple hero has been afflicted by his severe cold, Daniel fixed his eyes on him compassionately. He knew he has to do something before the purple protagonist's illness worsens until it renders him utterly immobilized and in a weak position to fight off his sickness, let alone his formidable foes if they discovered what happened to him. "Spyro, may I have a word with you?"

Spyro, on the other hand, seems to be preoccupied with his thoughts and discharged two dry, hacking coughs from his reptilian lips and lungs that wracked his little, stunted body and yellow chest, coughing harshly into his claws, in short and repeated spasms. They didn't sound awfully painful in comparison to the previous cough attacks that greatly tormented him. Once his coughs subsided, he cleared his throat before composing himself. "Sure. What is the matter?" He tilted his head in confusion, wondering why his coach suddenly had the desire to speak with him.

Daniel dragged out a long, purple roll-shaped packaging of lozenges seemingly from nowhere out of his compassion and lends it to Spyro, who used his tail to wrap it around it as his way of receiving things before carefully depositing it into his bag for safekeeping. It is in blackcurrant flavour, which sort of matches with the colour of his scales. More importantly, it contained ten mentholated cough drops that consisted of the vital ingredients such as Vitamin C, menthol and eucalyptus. "I'm beginning to worry about you, you've been coughing badly to a large extent since our induction. So, here is a cough drop to stop your coughing. Better yet, have the whole packet but whatever you do, don't eat all of them at once. Consume two minimum every day, they should be helpful for your recovery."

Curious to know where his coach bought them, the purple protagonist directed his question at him whilst he snivelled nasally, but weakly, after what seemed like the umpteenth time. He sniffed so many times since the day he first came down with a nasty cold, it's actually not easy to keep track. "Thanks but where did you find the time to buy them? You didn't purchase them from Moneybags, did you?"

"Heavens, no! I bought them from a local chemist, which is a few miles away from Dragon Shores. Whatever gave you that idea, Spyro?"

"Moneybags tends to rip anyone off, every time he comes into contact with them."

"Wow… rumours have indeed spread so quickly."

"What rumours?"

"Haven't you heard? There have been rumours going around about a bear with a bag of gems ripping off anyone he encounters. In fact, I've heard just recently he tried to con Marco the Balloonist out of his money."

"Speaking of Moneybags, he attempted to fleece one of my friends out of her gems until I stopped him just in time."

"Did you distribute disciplinary action to rule breakers like him, like I taught you and Smokey during the training session?"

"I sure did! He is asking for it anyway."

"But don't go overboard. Not everyone needs to be punished. Only distribute punishment to those that are disobeying the rules."

"Got it." Spyro nodded his head, indicating his understanding of the advice his trainer offered him.

"For now, try to take it easy. You still haven't gotten over your illness yet." The aqua-scaled instructor promptly settled one of his adult-sized, substantial claws on the purple protagonist's rough, scaly back, allowing his claw to rub up and down in a rhythmic, repetitive manner as if he is truly caressing it.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Smokey gazed upwards at his teacher, feeling a sympathetic emotion casting over him.

"He'll be fine. He isn't a hero for nothing if he's a pushover for a cold." Daniel met his concerned student's sky blue-coloured eyes, fixing his pallid blue eyes down on him. He is fully aware that the draconic defender will never let the symptoms of his affliction get him down, even if it goes from bad to worse.

"I sure hope none of his enemies will take his sickness as an opening to world domination. If this happens, we're in deep doo-doo."

Spyro rolled his non-drowsy, sickly eyes sarcastically, believing this conversation is starting to become negative and the fact they are gossiping amongst themselves about him. "That's baloney! You guys are speaking as if I'm not in the same place as you two. There's no way I'm gon Unluckily, the irritating tickles in his throat soon developed into a bout of horrendous, hacking coughs which wracked his small, short body while he coughed in short, dry and spasmodic bursts. He closed his eyes securely to suppress the agonizing pain as he continuously coughed into his claws. His coughing became more disturbing, louder and worsened with each passing second. His painful-sounding coughs extended for brief length of time; to the point where they slowed down to a total stop. "…gonna let that happen. They're gonna think twice before wrecking havoc in the Dragon Realms, Avalar, Forgotten Worlds or here." He finished his sentence in a kind of a breathless manner after he opened his half-asleep eyes and regained his composure; feeling like his dreadful cold has deprived him of his inner strength and dragon flame.

"Let's return to our seats, Stanley might be wondering where we've been." Daniel nodded his head over to the first row of chairs that isn't that far from the stage, point towards to where they are heading. Without he and his apprentices, their employer is the only dragon who is occupying the row by himself.

And so, Spyro, Smokey and their kind-hearted coach hiked back to their unoccupied seats on foot. Considering that they are dragons, flying or gliding would save them the time but they preferred not to draw unwanted attention to them. By the time they returned and sat in their respective seats, they've already missed the rest of Gildas' explanation and rambles except his last two sentences.

"…And it gives me great pleasure that I declare the karaoke and beach party to be officially commenced! So, let's party until the wee hours of the morning!" Gildas declared for everybody to hear, stretching out his immensely outsized, blue claws and extensive, robust arms simultaneously as if he is trying his hardest to proclaim something major important.

In response, there is an explosion of whooping, bellowing and exhilarated screaming from all shapes, sizes, widths and heights from each native from every realm of the Dragon Realms, Avalar and the Forgotten Worlds. It seems that they can't wait to get the party in full swing. Even the partying fauns from Magma Cone used their opportunity to throw their pointy party hats in the air as an act of celebration. They caught their hats momentarily in their hands just before they landed on the ground before them and placed them back on their heads.

"This is gonna be one heck of a party, you betcha!" Smokey covered his hidden ears with his pint-sized, grey-coloured claws, in order to mute out the noise coming from the raving audience and exclaimed at the top of his voice over the thunderous hubbub.

Spyro simply nodded in response to his workmate's overly excited comment, forcing a crestfallen, frail smile. The pain he suffered from his ailment may have ruined most of his day but this is going to be the start of a party to remember for years and perhaps generations to come. Not even his sickness can deprive him from his happiness. Trying to maintain a smile, he attempts to make the most of the shindig but unbeknownst to him, he is unaware of the dangers that lie ahead of him in the future.

* * *

Unfortunately to you readers and reviewers, I'll be taking a break from writing old-school Spyro stories and returning to my Mario fanfiction roots for the first time in years. It appears I've sort of regained my motivation. But if you're a Mario fan as well as a classic Spyro fan, then you'll be looking forward to what I have in store hopefully in the future.

The difficult parts of this chapter would be trying to come up with the layout and structure of the stage and describing it in detail upon detail, thinking up of a title for this chapter and describing what the cough drops looks like. If you're familiar with the _Eurovision Song Contest_s, you'll know where the inspiration for the stage came from.

Anyway, I am so sorry to keep all of you waiting since the 5th chapter. You thought I've given up on this story, huh? I haven't actually. In fact, I was working very hard on this chapter while trying to juggle with the stuff, events and incidents that occurred in my life.

As you can tell, the karaoke shindig will officially start in the upcoming chapters straight after this one. Actually, the karaoke party is an obvious reference to the karaoke sessions at college and the _Eurovision Song Contest_s (which happens every year but every contest is different). Taking part in those karaoke events are for raising money for popular charities such as Comic Relief (otherwise known as Red Nose Day) and Children In Need.

If you want to request a song, include the name of the song you've picked as well as and your chosen characters in your review. You also have to mention whether they perform either by themselves, as a duet or as a group. However, I must warn you. Not every request will be accepted, it depends on if they meet my requirements or criteria. Whatever you do **don't **choose a song, a band and singer (e.g. Lady GaGa and the Pussycat Dolls) I loathe with a burning passion or don't know, they will result in an automatic rejection.

So, review away but please no flames and negative comments. We'll try to remove them if we see them. **SoraLover1994** and I appreciate constructive criticism as long as it helps us improve our writing and grammar.


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